Orkney Shellfish Hatchery, at Lamb Holm will be producing  Native Flat Oysters on land,  at its hatchery.

Orkney Shellfish Hatchery is a multi species shellfish hatchery, designed to provide premium seafood products including oyster spat, European lobster, microalgae and nutritional solutions to the aquaculture industry. It is part of the Cadman Capital Group’s Aquaculture Division

Biosecurity now plays an increasingly important role in the production of shellfish in industry best-practise hatcheries. These important measures control the movement and spread of harmful biological agents both within the hatchery and between the hatchery and the surrounding environment. These measures are to  integrate successful oyster culture with the safeguarding of the surrounding waters.

A secondary wastewater filtration system, designed to treat all of the hatchery’s wastewater for potential pathogens before discharge, is being built and will be installed and commissioned in the coming months. 

Dr Nik Sachlikidis, Managing Director of the Cadman Capital Group’s Aquaculture Division, said:

“The Orkney Shellfish Hatchery facility is first rate and, thanks to the efforts of Dr Matthew Johnston and the team, has put us in a strong position to successfully culture a range of species.

“The operations team is busy making the switch from construction into production, and we are working hard to achieve our first spat production of native oysters.

“The arrival of our first native oyster broodstock is an important milestone and has the whole Group excited, it also opens the door to the culture of other target species, such as lobsters, later this year.

“Exciting times ahead in Orkney.”

The broodstock oysters will be fed a mixed diet of live algae harvested from the two large photo-bioreactors at the hatchery, providing the nutrition required for spawning and generating healthy oyster spat.

Orkney Shellfish Hatchery  state that they are  committed to the efficient and sustainable practise of cultivating shellfish on land, in order to replenish the UK’s seafood stocks, as well as support the global aquaculture industry.