At
the tail end of the nineteenth century halibut were so plentiful that the fishermen
of Shetland used the big flatfish as a slippery carpet to help pull their boats
on to shore. Used in the same way today, at £14 per kilo, that would make
it the world's most expensive lubricant.
Today, we are considerably
more appreciative of the fish and the species has gone from being by-catch to
premium product on the fishmonger's slab. Chefs like the versatility of halibut,
it is loved for its firm white flesh, and it is one of the few fish outside the
big five of cod, prawns, salmon, plaice and haddock with which the public are
familiar enough to buy happily.
Graeme Lumsden runs to Two
Fishers Restaurant in Edinburgh, where halibut is often a popular choice on the
menu. "It is one of my favourite fish" he says. "It has a good
texture and its flavour is not too overpowering. Along with turbot, it is what
the French call one of the noble fish and it has quite a delicate flavour, which
means you can do a lot with it.
"Halibut lends itself
to all sorts of different treatments. We do a halibut stuffed with crab, wrapped
in parma ham and with a nutmeg cream sauce. Alternatively, you can do it in a
simple Mediterranean style set in a salad of fetta, rocket and avocado."
After the Second World War about 8,000 tons of wild Atlantic halibut were landed
in the UK each year. That figure is down to 500 tons today. A barometer of high
street trends, Marks & Spencer's will no longer source wild Atlantic halibut
because they are on a list of species thought to be endangered. However, what
M & S will sell is farmed halibut.
Scotland is leading the
way in the new science of halibut farming and while the industry is in its infancy,
it is predicted to grow at a sustainable rate. About 400 tonnes of farmed halibut
are produced each year in Scotland, with the figures projected to grow to 1200
tons in five years and 5000 tons in 10.
Halibut farming looks set
to avoid many of the environmental concerns that have dogged salmon farming in
Scotland. The Marine Conservation Society, a charity dedicated to the protection
of the marine environment, places wild Atlantic halibut in its top 20 species
to avoid because of low stocks. However, it suggests farmed halibut as an alternative.
Alastair Barge is the chairman
of the British Marine Finfish Association (BMFA), the representative body of companies
involved in farming species such as cod, haddock and halibut. He also runs the
Otter Ferry Seafish company in Argyll. It is the only halibut hatchery in Scotland
which produces young fish that are then sold on to 10 fish farms around Scotland.
"The positives for halibut are that it is a low volume, high value product
with a low environmental impact," explains Alastair.
The shortage of wild fish
and the correspondingly high price people are prepared to pay for halibut, make
it an attractive fish to farm. Having first looked at turbot as a potential species,
Alastair settled on halibut as more suited to the climate profile of Scotland's
West Coast. There was a demand for the fish and the price was right. All Alastair
had to learn to do was to learn how to farm them. It took 10 years before the
process was at a commercially viable stage.
Halibut farming is riding
on the back of the salmon farming industry in terms of both its developed infrastructure
and the money that has funded its research, yet it is also keen not to make the
same mistakes as some salmon farmers did.
Most of the feed used at
Otter Ferry comes from certifiably sustainable fish stocks in the south seas,
which are less polluted than their northern counterparts.
A major concern with salmon
farming that farmed fish can escape and may alter the gene pool of the wild stocks.
Since there are negligible wild stocks of halibut off the coast of Scotland, this
isn't seen to be a problem. Thus far, halibut also seem to be very hardy fish
with strong immune systems to protect against disease. If there is no disease,
there is no need to give the fish antibiotics.
Halibut are also very effective
at converting fish feed into flesh and have a high yield in terms of the percentage
of food to inedible fish and bones for each fish. At two thirds fillet to one
third wasted skin and bone, salmon is a very high yield fish, but halibut compares
well at 55% to haddock's 45% and turbot's 35%.
The comparatively high price
halibut can demand removes the temptation for intensive rearing methods. It is
not in a halibut farmer's interest to produce as much fish as possible by any
means necessary.
"We are a niche and
we want to remain a niche to retain the value of the product," says Alastair.
"Why farm more for less when you can farm less for more? We are not going
to be a salmon industry."
He points out that any commercial
development in the west of Scotland is going to have an environmental impact whether
it is a hotel, fish farm, wind farm or forest nature trail.
He says: "The important
thing is to minimise the impact and ensure sustainability. The halibut sites can
be viable at low tonnage."
The potential economic benefits
in job scarce areas also look tempting. The 10 staff at Otter Ferry have a £250,000
wage bill, which is not an insignificant chunk of the Inveraray economy. The BMFA
reckons that in 10 years, its members will have created 600 new direct jobs and
up to 2,000 indirect jobs. Alastair adds: "It's fairly labour-intensive,
with well-paid jobs and downstream opportunities for adding value and further
employment."
There are plenty of people
who would like to see fish farming in Scotland come to an end. For Alastair, this
is akin to cutting of your nose to spite your face. He argues: "It's a global
industry and if fish farming is politically unacceptable in Scotland then it will
be done elsewhere and then the consumer will be eating imported halibut.
"We are going to get
halibut from somewhere it would be nice if it came from the west of Scotland."
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