On the menu: Sustainable Disco Scallops caught using fishing pots with lights
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Sustainably-caught Disco Scallops have been added to the menu after a chance discovery that the shellfish were attracted to fishing pots with lights. The findings have been developed into a low-impact inshore fishery which offers an alternative to scallops caught through dredging, the initiative’s backers said.
Most commercial scallop harvesting is carried out using dredges which are dragged over the seabed to scoop up the shellfish, harming sensitive habitats and species, while low-impact methods for harvesting them by diving produce a limited catch. In 2022, scientists from Fishtek Marine, a Devon conservation engineering company focused on technology to reduce bycatch, were working with Newlyn-based Cornish fisherman Jon Ashworth to trial “Potlights” – small underwater lights to bait crab and lobsters pots instead of fish bait.
The team discovered the lights combined with specially-modified pots were attracting large numbers of scallops, which have 200 tiny eyes, in addition to the crabs and lobsters that were being targeted. They nicknamed the pots with lights “scallop discos” and Fishtek Marine has worked over the last two years alongside UK fishing pot-makers and the University of Exeter to perfect the design and run trials with fishermen around the country to test out the pots.
The Disco Scallop brand has been registered and a new collective between Fishtek Marine, restaurant entrepreneur Lee Cash, who has added them to the menu at some venues, and 40 boats using the technology has been created to market the shellfish and encourage more fishermen to diversify their catch.
