The Good, The Bad & The Women: An analysis of the changing European labour migration into Scotland’s Fish-processing sector

This paper presents an analysis of the changing regimes of European labour migrants employed in the fish processing industries of the Northeast of Scotland. Whilst migrants from across Europe are included within this study, the results represent primarily labour migrants from the Baltic states (Latavia, Lithuania and Estonia). The research presented is taken from a qualitative mixed-method case study design with considers the population change in coastal Scotland, using in-depth interview, ethnography, and documentary analysis. This paper focusses on the results from one of three case studies - Peterhead, the UK's number one - and one of Europe's largest- white-fish ports, which is of particular importance to the migrant labour in question.

The finding presented in this paper offer an understanding of the changes in the mechanisms of migrant labour flows in the sector from pre-accession until the early stages of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union in 2016 and 2017(also known as the Brexit process). The findings show the social (re)production of perceived waves of labour migration within these coastal spaces can been enabled by changes in systems of labour mobility, in particular the shift from international recruitment agencies to informal recruitment practices which relied on existing migrants’ family and community networks. The paper explores the impact of this shift on the social, demographic, and gendered aspects of the migrant labour flows and lived experience of migrants in Peterhead. In doing so the paper explores how shifting mechanisms of employment recruitment impact the role of, and settlement intentions of migrant women.