“For twelve years, as a scallop diver, I swam through Kelp forests in the pure beautiful waters of the North Atlantic around my home off the coast of the West of Scotland. I used to gather seaweed on the beach beside my house to fertilise a little veggie patch on the Isle of Mull. The results were always wonderful. It got me thinking…”

Alongside Alasdair Hughson, from Keltic Seafare, I am the founding Chair of this vital group representing and supporting the interests of Scallop Divers in Scotland

Scotland is a great country blessed with exceptional natural bounty . In the shellfish sector demand outstrips supply. We want to see our supply base protected and this can only come through proper stewardship. Been dive-fishing for King Scallops in the North Atlantic now for 8 years. Everyday we see the damage being done to our shallow inshore marine environment by bad management and zero habitat protection.So we set up a company that would apply real ethics of respect to the game of… Show more Scotland is a great country blessed with exceptional natural bounty . In the shellfish sector demand outstrips supply. We want to see our supply base protected and this can only come through proper stewardship. Been dive-fishing for King Scallops in the North Atlantic now for 8 years. Everyday we see the damage being done to our shallow inshore marine environment by bad management and zero habitat protection.So we set up a company that would apply real ethics of respect to the game of fishing. We only supply hand-dived scallops, hand gathered shellfish and creel caught shell fish. We have some wonderful restaurants and hotels as clients in the UK (Michelin, 5 star and the amazing Bay Fish chip shop in Stone haven!) We also serve Booths in the NW of England and the legend that is Raymond Blanc. Been humbled that our company has won awards almost every year. Remote communities must do something now about protecting and stewarding AND asserting their ownership over vital ocean resources instead of waiting for dis-connected government at home or in Europe to come along and BAN everything or display lazy law making.We believe that MORE money can be made by working in a manner that allows the marine environment a chance to develop habitat complexity instead of allowing it to be constantly reduced from the 3 to the 1-dimensional by minority stake-holders. The tactic of standing on the sidelines and calling for change does not really work very effectively. It does seem clear that we are failing to protect our shallow inshore zones. Zones that if allowed to flourish could support so many more families and businesses, such as ours and others on land as well. Remote working communities do not need their habitat churned up by a minority of businessmen engaged in short termist habitat destructive fishing practices that only create devalued bulk products and impoverish the regions they claim, falsely, to be custodians over. Show less