ORKNEY, Scotland
Country Living
(2009)
An hour earlier, Sandy Livesey had neatly stacked his hand-knotted creels, selected some fine-looking lobsters, and raced off to dispatch the wee beasties to the Great Saucepan in the Sky. Or, in this case, the kitchen of the Lynnfield Hotel, near the deep historic waters of Scapa Flow, where I was to feast upon an Orkney lobster supper. And a rare treat it was, indeed.
Simply boiled till the shell was the mottled salmon and crimson marble of a Venetian palazzo, this was lobster defined. The meat was sweetly succulent, tender and true with a hint of salty seas; all it needed was a squeeze of lemon and an appetite whipped up by Orkneys bracing air. I looked up at the vast, velvet heavens where the stars swam like fish in the sea, to use the Orkney poet George Mackay Brown's lovely phrase, and pictured the mid-summer nights to come when the skies are tie-died pink, gold and purple and the days drift on forever.
The jigsaw coast of the low-lying Orkney Mainland (to confuse us Sassenachs, Orcadians refer to the largest island of the archipelago thus, and to the mainland of Scotland as, well, simply Scotland) is noted for shellfish, thanks to the tides, huge coastline, rich, shallow feeding grounds and pure, clear waters. Lobster and crab have been eaten here for millennia; 5,000 year-old remains have been found at the Neolithic village of Skara Brae.
The dark blue, orange-speckled European lobster (Homarus gammarus) is a valuable catch: highly territorial, they take around seven years to reach the minimum size they can be harvested. Capturing them in baited creels or pots means immature or breeding lobsters can be returned to the sea. The Orkney Lobster Hatchery was set up in 1985 to create a sustainable fishery, and is linked to the Orkney Fishermens Society. Under the direction of the far-sighted Stuart Crichton it has become the most successful in Europe, pioneering innovative management systems. The catch has risen steadily, with fishermen involved in the restocking process, learning how and where to release the juveniles. The only puzzle is: why do practically all the lobsters go to appreciative diners in Spain and Scandinavia?
Its the same question when it comes to crab both dinner-plate sized brown and tiny, nippy velvet swimmers both of which get whisked straight off live to Europe from the pretty little harbour at Stromness. Cultural tastes, market forces and commercial pressures make up a complex answer but at least, thanks to Stuart, the fresh white and brown crab meat is now also processed and packed ready-to-eat or in pates and terrines for UK supermarkets. And the Orkney fishermen not only respect a closed-season system, minimum landing size, seabird nesting, marine life and proper waste disposal, but are currently engaged in a project to systematically monitor crab catch, location and numbers.
Sandy also catches whelks bizarrely for the Korean market, and his catamaran, the Samantha Jane, co-owned with Magnus Norquay, was the first in the UK to be accredited under Seafishs Responsible Fishing Scheme; he also has a unique, chilled water lobster holding tank, designed to avoid stress until theyre sold. Sandy is a true son of Orkney: modest, industrious and committed to a sustainable fishing future. He represents the best of the Orkney fishing tradition and its future. And hes proud of his native land: There are staggering views everywhere, every day, and the water is so good you can fish and know you'll always catch something.
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