2 March, 2007

FISHERIES scientists in Shetland have proven for the first time that it is possible to grow a pelagic species in a cage.

The NAFC Marine Centre, in Scalloway, harvested four boxes of herring from one of its experimental salmon farm sites in nearby Clift Sound.

The farm workers had no plans to grow herring and at first they did not know the fish were in their cages. A shoal of about 100 young herring were inadvertently caught when workers were changing their nets and escaped detection.

Initially the farm workers thought the extra fish were sprats and had been frying them up for a meal. It was only on closer examination that they realised what they actually were.

Herring do not usually survive in salmon cages because they sustain scale damage coming through the nets. These herring turned out to be a hardy breed, managing to grow to a large size by harvest time.

Clift Sound farm manager Stewart Sales said: "The herring thrived in amongst 50 tonnes of salmon and survived in a well boat that transferred fish from site to site.

"They grew from five centimetres to full size in a period of 18 months and they looked in extremely good, healthy condition and were completely free of parasites. They tasted fattier and oilier than wild herring, but they were still good.

"This proves that you can grow a pelagic species in a cage. I wouldn't have thought they would have survived, though I don't think the price would be high enough to make them a viable species to farm in the future."