Plans for new seafood farming sector in Scotland

The king scallop is one of Scotland’s prime seafood catches. But traditional scallop dredging has been condemned by environmental groups for damaging pristine seabeds, while attempts to develop a viable scallop farming sector in Scotland have so far failed, the Scotsman reports

But on 18 February Seafood Scotland and Highlands and Islands Enterprise are to host a meeting to discuss the possibility of developing a new king scallop farming industry in the Highlands and off Scotland’s west coast. The conference will be addressed by representatives of Scot-Hatch Ltd, the only Scottish company now harvesting scallops, and the company’s Norwegian partners Scalpro AS.

The duo got together to establish a pioneering scallop farming business in Scotland two years ago. Last year they sent scallops, caught in Scotland, to a Norwegian hatchery to spawn and had almost 750,000 scallops spats returned to Scotland to grow them for market. This year they plan to increase their production to 2.5 million, the newspaper reports.

Scot-Hatch Ltd said the key to developing the industry is to secure funding to establish a central hatchery which could be used by those keen to get involved in the new seafood sector.Norway had poured money into hatcheries, but never managed to grow the spat, partly because the water is too cold. But the company believes the conditions in Scotland are ideal.