The Scotsman

CASE STUDY: SHETLAND MUSSELS

-

Shetland’s pristine waters make ideal conditions for growing mussels, with 80 per cent of Scotland’s farmed output coming from the islands. Traditiona­l methods for culturing mussels rely on nature, so some years and locations see high numbers harvested, yet other times far fewer.

To smooth out the ups and downs from year to year, the industry is building a mussel hatchery, a facility in which to spawn and grow baby mussels. The pilot hatchery is being built right next to the mussel farms on Shetland.

Shetland Mussels, part of the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group, is involved in the pilot scheme, which is called “Stepping Stone”, a collaborat­ive approach to breed mussels in captivity, before putting them on ropes in the sea. “It’s an exciting project – both in terms of innovation and science and the potential to meet market demand,” says Michael Tait, owner and operations director at Shetland Mussels, inset below.

Since 2016, the project has shown that it can culture and produce baby mussels, which can cling onto ropes hung in the waters surroundin­g Shetland. If the hatchery can move from a pilot scale to full commercial scale then it should help the industry to reach its target of producing 21,000 tonnes of mussels by 2030, up from 8,000 tonnes at present.

The project brings together mussel farmers, the Scottish Aquacultur­e Innovation Centre (SAIC) in Stirling, and researcher­s from the University of the Highlands & Islands and the University of Stirling. The partners say that they still have “much to do” because “the task of replicatin­g the skills of mother nature indoors in a seawater hatchery is far from easy” but that “the outlook is very encouragin­g”.

Tait adds: “Collaborat­ion is key to many success stories and our work with SAIC has really boosted this project. By tapping into their contacts with academic partners, we’ve all built the momentum needed to progress.”

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom