Major growth for Scottish seafood industry

"Certainly we are riding an upward trend at the moment," Nicki Holmyard, spokeswoman for the industry group Seafood Scotland, told the newspaper.

"From the consumers' point of view, they want something prepared that they can use quickly. It's all about convenience, and this is the sector that producers are putting huge investment into," she said.

In May, Macrae, the esteemed Scottish company, owned by the Grimsby giant Young's, opened the UK's most up to date seafood processing plant in Livingston, Scotland, doubling the capacity. The plant produces a variety of seafood products, including smoked salmon, trout and pelagic fish, as well as speciality seafood such as shellfish, pates, cocktails and other value-added products.

The products are going to supermarket chain Waitrose, which is preparing an expansion plan where Scotland will feature predominantly:

"The thought that 70 per cent of our raw materials come from Scotland and are being processed in Scotland is a good one, for the people we employ and for the people in the supply chain," said managing director Roy Cunningham to the Scotsman.