Shellfish – Scallops
Left: Grant Campbell
Above: One of the discs used to transport the scallop spat from Norway
company has plans to build its own hatchery. It would be overseen by Professor Thorolf Magnesen from Scalpro, a world-recognised scallop expert. ‘I have two or three people a week asking me if I have scallops available so they can apply for a Several Order – so the demand is there,’ says Grant. Indeed, the advantages of a hatchery are manifold. Not only will
it provide employment, for hatchery staff, scallop ranchers – with whom Scot-Hatch would create partnerships, supplying them with juveniles for a percentage of the harvest – and a range of associated jobs, and research opportunities, it will also help to build up the scallop biomass. ‘If we start producing scallops in the quantities we want,’ explains
King scallops – some facts
The king scallop, Pecten maximus, is a bivalvic mollusc. The lower right valve is convex and off-white in colour whilst the upper left valve is fl at and reddish-brown. Filter feeders, king scallops fi lter small organ- isms from the water. They are also hemaphrodite; each king scallop contains both male and female reproductive organs. They also have a number of blue eyes around the margins of their shells.
Grant, ‘then we could look to seed scallops in protected areas that have been closed for dredging. After fi ve or six years you could look to allow- ing dredgers back in for limited periods. The fact is that if we don’t act now, in fi ve or six years there will be no scallops left here at all.’ The company is looking for an investment of £1.2 million over the next
fi ve years to realise their goal. ‘At the moment we have two very big companies looking at us, they are very excited by the project,’ says Grant. ‘However, it remains to be seen whether they are willing to take a punt.’ In the meantime they have been applying for funding from a number of
sources. They are waiting to hear back from the EFF, and HIE have promised to provide a percentage if this is unsuccessful. However, Grant is deeply frustrated by what she call ‘intransigence’ on the part of the Scottish Gov- ernment, who seem wholly disinterested in supporting them fi nancially. ‘If this was Norway, the government would be throwing money at us,’
says Grant. She points to a building on the edge of the loch. ‘There’s a marine lab site down there that was shut three years ago; it contains all of the equipment we need to set up a hatchery. Eighteen months ago we asked the government to allow us to lease it, but they refused. We now have to go down the route of private investment, which means that we’ll have to give up a considerable amount of equity.’ However, this is a price that Grant and Campbell are willing to pay.
They see the benefi ts of their scheme outweighing the costs, not just to them fi nancially but to the wider economy and indeed for the future of the king scallop. Before I left the Isle of Ewe, Grant cooked up some fresh scallops. To say that they were delicious is an understatement. ‘It’s a bit of a problem when we give people our scallops, because when they have them elsewhere, they’re never the same,’ she laughs. It would be a crying shame to see the demise of the king scallop in Scotland. But with the right investment, it could have a much brighter future. And as for Jane Grant, with her passion and determination, the world is her, well, scallop. FF
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