Beyond the catch: examining the gendered and migrant workforce in Scotland’s post-harvest fishery

Abstract Research on the fishing industry typically centres the male-dominated catching sector, neglecting the post-harvest fishery historically sustained by fishermen’s wives. This study explores social change and migration in Scotland’s fish-processing sector, in Northeast Scotland, where non-UK workers comprised up to 70% of the processing workforce in 2019, the highest regional proportion in the UK (Seafish 2019). It asks how women’s fishing identities are constructed in the post-harvest sector, and to what extent migration status shapes wellbeing experiences. The research formed part of a doctoral study using ethnography and Photovoice in a Northeast fishing community. An intersectional wellbeing framework (Galappaththi et al. 2021) guided the analysis across three groups: (1) migrant and (2) local women working in fishprocessing, and (3) fishermen’s wives, centring migrant women’s experiences. Findings reveal heterogeneity across and within groups, shaped by the intersections of gender, migration status, race, age, and caring responsibilities. Migrant women’s experiences are the most fully represented in the data and are centred throughout, reflecting both the depth of their accounts and the structural conditions shaping their everyday lives. Material wellbeing was unevenly distributed: migrant women’s security was structured by employer-tied visas and housing, while local processors faced income insecurity through variable, hourly pay. Subjective wellbeing varied by age and lifecourse: fishermen’s wives’ identities were bound to community norms, local processors valued stability amid limited local options, and migrant women framed the work as a sacrifice for future gain. Relational wellbeing was the most consistent dimension across groups, as women actively built and sustained relationships, from community ties structured by husband absence to transnational caregiving sustained by migrant mothers across distance. A key finding was that migration status, more than group membership alone, structured women’s access to material security, voice, and belonging within the Scottish fishery.