Scottish Shellfish Statistics Unveiled

Scotland's Chief Statistician has published the Scottish Shellfish Farm Production Survey 2010.

Providing information on production and employment, it is structured to follow industry trends within the mussel, Pacific oyster, native oyster and scallop sectors. Some statistics are given for the 20-year period 1990-2010.

The main findings are:

• Production tonnage of mussels increased by 14% in 2010 to 7199 tonnes. This increase shows continuing growth in the sector
• Production tonnage of Pacific oyster increased by 4% to 2900 tonnes in 2010. This follows fluctuating production over the past six years. Native oyster production decreased from 39 tonnes in 2009 to 28 tonnes
• In 2010, king and queen scallop production increased by 83% and 33% respectively from the 2009 total, targeting a small niche market
• Employment in the shellfish industry increased from 345 in 2009 to 399 in 2010 (a rise of 16%), demonstrating continuing interest and growth of the industry

The survey is complied from data collected directly from authorised fish farming companies. Official statistics are produced by professionally independent staff.

More fish and seafood news from Scotland.