30 years of Scottish Aquaculture
SCOTTISH SHELLFISH Mollusc-meisters
A PIONEERING PRODUCER LOOKS BACK AT THE INDUSTRY’S MIXED FORTUNES OVER THE LAST 30 YEARS
By John Holmyard
ooking back to shellfish farming in Scotland in the 1980s is a trip into a world with no algal toxins, no EU directives, no classification of harvesting areas, no purification plants, no recession, no paperwork mountain, no labelling, little scrutiny from health and safety, no Mytilus trossulus, no Bonamia, no red list with gigas on it, and seemingly no limit to the possibilities open to the industry.
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I think it is safe to say that no one who entered the shellfish industry in the ‘70s or ‘80s had already been a shellfish farmer or had a diploma in the subject. This meant there was a wealth of experience brought in from other fields, and that people’s expectations were not tempered by too much dull reality. The essence and mood of the early industry was an exercise of exploration into what could be done, rather than what should be done.
On the negative side, there was virtually no equipment suit- able for Scottish production conditions, poor transport links, no marketing infrastructure and, with a few exceptions, no one to turn to for realistic advice.
Some problems, however – such as Eider ducks, storm dam- age, low salinity, poachers, barnacles, tube worms, rising fuel costs, rising interest rates and NIMBYs – never seem to change! One of the first things you notice when reading publications issued by development agencies and the trade press in the ‘80s is the almost equal mention of mussels, native oysters, gigas oysters, queen scallops, king scallops, princess scallops and Ma- nila clams. Each species appeared on the cusp of becoming The Next Big Thing and there was even mention of the possibilities of rearing abalone, peeler crab, winkles, seaweed and urchins. Today there are probably few people who have a clue what a princess scallop is, and Manila clams and all the other hopefuls never took off. The modern industry concentrates instead on mussels and gigas oysters, while a few determined souls perse- vere with king and queen scallops. Native oysters are hope- fully making a comeback, although such optimism has proved unfounded in the past.
Equipment in the early days was mostly homemade, with a wealth of wonderful inventions. In the mussel world you could choose from half a dozen or more designs of mussel raft and two or three types of longlines – floated by beer kegs, oil drums, juice barrels, polystyrene blocks or old trawl floats. Ropes were often second-hand fishing industry cast-offs, pegs were hand-split from greenheart wooden pier pilings, while
Equipment in the early days was mostly homemade, with a wealth of wonderful inventions
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
Left: oyster racks, Ardkinglas. Above: mussel beds.
weights consisted of bags of pebbles, or flowerpots filled with cement. Mechanised equipment was rare, and grading, wash- ing and bagging was mostly done by hand.
The concept of ‘sea crofting’ existed throughout that time. The industry was seen by some farmers, and certainly by the devel- opment agencies, as an alternative, or add-on, to traditional crofting. This had some advantages and helped with obtaining assistance from the Highlands and Islands Development Board, the Islands Development Programme and local enterprise agen- cies. This was fine while the industry was small and everyone was selling to top-end niche markets. However, the downside was a proliferation of large numbers of small leases and small businesses, which very soon ran into marketing problems once the niche markets were filled. The hangover from this still af- fects the industry today to some extent, with lease sizes often being too small and too widespread to be economically viable. One thing that the early industry did have – in spades – was a wealth of characters. Some were deluded and some were misled, while others were visionary and determined to succeed. What is certain is that, without these pioneering figures, the nucleus of a successful industry would never have been formed. While the first phase of the industry was one of exploration, the next phase was characterised by expansion. As the ‘80s moved into the ‘90s, equipment and farming techniques im- proved, production increased, marketing and transport began to be sorted out, and there was a concentration on just three key products – mussels, oysters and scallops. The general mind- set was more business-focused, and farms became larger and fewer through expansion and amalgamation. The development agency focus moved from promoting sea-crofting in the West- * Continued on page 52
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