Welcome to the Quota Management System for the Scottish Fishermens Organisation.

The Scottish Fishermen's Organisation was recognised as a producers' organisation in 1973, following the United Kingdom's accession to the then European Economic Community.

According to European legislation, producers' organisation should undertake 2 main functions:

• the marketing of their members' catches
• the management of fisheries subject to quota arrangements

The Scottish Fishermen's Organisation is a Producer Organisation (PO) that undertakes direct marketing activities, and implements the EU price support scheme for fish. An essential part of this scheme is the grading of fish according to size and quality criteria.

The Organisation also manages the fishing activities of its members, who encompass demersal fisheries (cod, haddock, saithe, whiting, plaice, megrim, monkfish, sole, skate, turbot and other bottom feeding fish) shellfish (crabs, lobsters, nephrops, scallops and shrimps) and pelagic (herring, mackerel, sprats).

This activity makes the Scottish Fishermen's Organisation one of the largest fisheries managers in Europe.

The Organisation currently has around 220 active vessel members in ports around the Scottish coast, from Girvan in the South West, to Peterhead in the North East, and also in the islands to the north and west including the Hebrides and Orkney.

The fleet consists of many types of vessels using a variety of fishing methods. The groundfish are caught mainly by trawling and in recent years twin rig trawling has become popular.

Pelagic fish are caught by trawl and purse seine and the vessels which prosecute this type of fishing are all fitted with refrigerated sea water tanks to ensure fish of the highest quality are delivered to the market.