Shellfish – Ardtoe Marine Research Facility


Scotland’s hidden pearl


PART OF THE PLANNED REDEVELOPMENT OF THE MARINE RESEARCH FACILITY AT ARDTOE IS AN EXPANSION OF ITS SHELLFISH HATCHERY – BUT HOW MANY PEOPLE REALISE IT EXISTED IN THE FIRST PLACE?


Clockwise from above: Sea urchin; Native oysters (Ostrea edulis); Tim Atack; RossAmy Wareing; Graded 8mm native oyster spat


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art of the remit of the new Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre is for the development of a


national shellfish hatchery, and this ‘need’ for such a facility was also echoed in an article in the last issue of Fish Farmer. However, it seems to have escaped everyone’s attention that there is a shellfish


hatchery in Scotland, at Ardtoe. Moreover, its new owners have big plans to develop it into a Scottish shellfish research centre. When Benchmark Holdings


purchased Ardtoe Marine Research Facility last year, it allocated fund- ing to redevelop the site for the commercial production of finfish, the creation of a new trials unit


and an expansion of its existing shellfish production unit. ‘I know that Stirling lost a lot of its shellfish expertise when Janet Brown left, and they are currently advertising for posts, because they recognise that there is a market for shellfish’, explains Ben Perry of Benchmark Holdings.


‘And whilst the Scottish Aquacul- www.fishfarmer-magazine.com


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