THE UK’S SHELLFISH INDUSTRY: UNTAPPED POTENTIAL & REGULATORY HURDLES

The UK’s Shellfish Industry: Untapped Potential & Regulatory Hurdles

The UK’s shellfish farming sector is small in terms of our European counterparts in France and Spain, but holds immense potential for expansion, according to David Jarrad, CEO of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain (SAGB).

The UK’s cultivation of shellfish includes mussels, oysters and scallops with production figures of 14 000 tonnes of mussels, 2 560 tonnes of Pacific Oysters, 12 tonnes of native oysters, 0.02 tonnes of Queenies and 5 tonnes of king scallops,

The UK’s Oyster Cultivation Sector

There are two species of oyster in the UK, the European Native Oyster (Ostrea Edulis) and the widely farmed Pacific Oyster (Magallana gigas).

The European Native Oyster is the wild oyster, largely found in UK waters for millennia, but now mostly died out due to overfishing, pollution and disease. These oysters are traditionally eaten only in months with an ‘r’ in (September to April) as during the summer months, they are breeding. Although this oyster is harvested in the UK, it accounts for a very small percentage of the UK production.

The Pacific oyster is the species intensely farmed worldwide, because it is disease resistant, it has a great flavour, it is fast growing in the right environment and it is available all year round unlike its European Native Oyster counterpart. The pacific oyster has been in UK waters since the late 1800s and cultivated nation wide ever since.

The current position with UK oyster production is that we produced circa 26 million oysters in 2022 compared with production figures in France estimated at 120 000 tonnes or circa 1.2 billion oysters in 2020 despite the UK having a similar hydrographical make up and a much larger coastline.

The figure of 26 million oysters produced in 2022 is a far cry from the quoted figures of 1861 when Henry Mayhew stated that Billingsgate market alone sold 496 million oysters in that year.

UK waters offer ideal growing conditions, protected from siltation and predators such as crabs and birds and hugely importantly, there are no feeds, chemicals, medicines or additives of any type required in the cultivation process. The complete oyster farming process takes a period of roughly three years or less from Hatchery to harvest. The harvested shellfish are then processed in depuration and purifications systems, prior to market.

The purification process involves keeping the oyster in clean salt water for a minimum of 42 hours during which time the shellfish self-cleanses to remove any bacteria from the product.

Public perception and government policy

Public perception and government policy hinder growth of this industry sector. Despite obtaining sustainability certifications, many shellfish farms struggle with misconceptions about environmental damage. Meanwhile, the UK government classifies Pacific oysters—re-introduced by the government in the 1960s—as an invasive species, blocking new farms and expansions. Other EU countries, however, consider them naturalised and integrate them into their aquaculture industries.

With projections indicating Pacific oysters will spread naturally as far north as the Faroe Islands by 2050, banning their commercial harvesting while allowing wild populations to grow unchecked is, as Jarrad puts it, “madness.”

“Due to current restrictive and negative government policy, the Duchy of Cornwall has decided not to renew any licenses on any of its estuaries and possibly other landowners will follow suit.” Says Jarrad

“When Pacific Oysters spawn their larvae can travel as far as 200 miles and there are wild populations in the UK, to our West (Ireland), to the South (France)and also to our East (Norway).”

“The sector offers jobs, economic growth, and an environmentally friendly protein source—yet restrictive policies continue to stifle progress.”

To summarise Jarrad continues, “Until these regulatory challenges are addressed, the UK’s shellfish industry will remain far from realising its full potential.”

Main Image Oyster production in Arcachon Basin in France