Scottish Shellfish Farm Production Survey 2022
This report is based on the returns of an annual survey questionnaire sent to all active authorised shellfish farming businesses in Scotland. Statistics on employment, production and value of shellfish from Scottish shellfish farms are presented.
Production
The survey reports that the shellfish species cultivated in
Scottish waters in 2022 were:
Mussel: Mytilus spp.
Pacific oyster: Crassostrea gigas[1]
Native oyster: Ostrea edulis
Queen scallop: Aequipecten opercularis
Scallop: Pecten maximus
Production was dominated by mussel and Pacific oyster, although small quantities of scallop, queen scallop (queen) and native oyster were also produced. The 2022 production data for each species by region are given in Table 1.
Region | Mussel | Pacific oyster | Native oyster | Queen | Scallop | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(tonnes) | (000s) | (000s) | (000s) | (000s) | ||||||
Table | On-growing | Table | On-growing | Table | On-growing | Table | On-growing | Table | On-growing | |
Highland | 707 | 75 | 1,817 | 2,015 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 | 0 | 37 | 0 |
Orkney | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Shetland | 7,164 | 2,431 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Strathclyde | 501 | 0 | 1,980 | 1,385 | 109 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Western Isles | 720 | 0 | 286 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
All Scotland | 9,092 | 2,506 | 4,087 | 3,400 | 109 | 8 | 0.6 | 0 | 39 | 0 |
Weight (Tonnes) | 9,092 | 2,506 | 327 | 9 | <1 | 5 |
NB: This report lists regions with active shellfish farms operated by authorised aquaculture production businesses.
Conversion to weight used the following assumptions (based on industry figures): individual oysters averaged 80g; individual scallops averaged 120g; individual queens averaged 40g.
Table = sales directly for human consumption;
On-growing = sales to other businesses for on-growing.
Table production by species is illustrated in Figure 1, while trends in production for the table market and on-growing in Scotland are presented in Table 2.
For the table | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | % change 21-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pacific oyster (000s) | 1,891 | 3,392 | 2,693 | 3,534 | 5,034 | 4,031 | 4,393 | 2,863 | 4,853 | 4,087 | -16 |
Native oyster (000s) | 260 | 242 | 200 | 201 | 200 | 142 | 103 | 35 | 8 | 109 | >100 |
Queen (000s) | 33 | 18 | 33 | 155 | 273 | 18 | 18 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 20 |
Scallop (000s) | 40 | 48 | 30 | 35 | 47 | 31 | 26 | 19 | 27 | 39 | 44 |
Mussel (tonnes) | 6,757 | 7,683 | 7,270 | 7,732 | 8,232 | 6,874 | 6,699 | 5,661 | 8,590 | 9,092 | 6 |
For on-growing | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | % change 21-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pacific oyster (000s) | 6,216 | 6,792 | 5,864 | 4,584 | 3,849 | 4,240 | 2,405 | 1,663 | 3,528 | 3,400 | -4 |
Native oyster (000s) | 1,015 | 749 | 13 | 323 | 481 | 344 | 327 | 10 | 41 | 8 | -81 |
Queen (000s) | 1,490 | 500 | 900 | 17 | 300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scallop (000s) | 1,470 | 136 | 49 | 23 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Mussel (tonnes) | 1,281 | 1,263 | 1,841 | 2,619 | 4,437 | 2,137 | 3,493 | 4,127 | 3,253 | 2,506 | -23 |
Mussel production, for the table, increased by 6% in 2022 (see figure 1) to 9,092 tonnes. This is the highest level of mussel production recorded in Scotland. The greatest regional contribution to mussel production was from Shetland, accounting for 7,164 tonnes (79%) of Scotland's total. Pacific oyster production decreased by 16% from 2021. The production of farmed scallops increased by 44% while production of native oysters increased by over 100%. There was only a very small amount of queen scallop production during 2022 as the main producer ceased trading during 2022. Historical data for all shellfish species show that production levels vary year on year. This can be due to a number of different factors such as poor spat fall, algal toxins, poor growth, adverse weather, pandemic restrictions and fluctuations in market prices.
Prices of farmed shellfish fluctuated throughout the year. Their value at first sale was estimated from the following figures obtained from the shellfish farming industry. These vary with demand, level of production and geographical area of origin. The average price of Pacific oyster was £0.41 per shell; native oyster, £0.50 per shell; scallop, £1.79 per shell; queen scallop, £0.13 per shell and mussel £950 per tonne. The value of the table trade is estimated from the production figures shown in Table 1.
Mussel: £8.6 million
Native oyster: £0.05 million
Pacific oyster: £1.7 million
Queen: > £0.0001 million
Scallop: £0.07 millionIn 2022, the total value at first sale for all species was calculated at approximately £10.4 million, an increase of 6% from the £9.8 million estimated in 2021.
Contact
Email: Lorna.Munro@gov.scot
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