Soaring rent for shellfish farms

Mr Carmichael discovered that Orkney shellfish farmers have seen their rents double in the last five years.
The figures emerged after the MP questioned the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much rent the Crown Estate was charging the fastest growing sector of the aquaculture industry.
His queries revealed that the income the Crown Estate has received from shellfish farmers UK wide has increased by 50 per cent since 2003, the news source wrote.

Rents from Shetland shellfish farmers has increased from £15,000 in 2002/3 to £50,000 in 2006/7, a rise of 233 percent. The figure in Orkney has grown from £1,100 to £2,500 during the same period.
Mr Carmichael told Shetland Marine News that it was another example of the Crown Estate’s inappropriate and wholly unfair taxing of the seabed, “yet they have given the bare minimum in return,” he said.