Live Irish Curragh Caught Scallops

Sold per 1/2 Doz

Since its inception back in 2013 SSI has always been committed to sourcing the best, the most exciting and most sustainable seafood we could. 

When it came to scallops we were always baffled with the No Dive law in ireland and are still committed to having this ridiculous law overturned.While on our Scallop mission back in Back in 2018 we got word of an all Irish speaking CoOp in the wild west of ireland that fished Scallops for generations in the most perfect bay for a live scallop to be fished.  

It took a huge amount of effort to locate them and almost had to call door to door all down the coast until we found them. When we did we were ecstatic to see these fishers at work. On a fishing Trip with Tom ( pictured ) he told us how his great grandfather  originally fished them by sail on Galway hookers. Tom joked saying they now have it easy and fish them by Curragh and by using a hand over hand method. A method we tried ourselves and it’s anything but easy and we were lucky with a beautiful bright and sunning morning. 

After seeing all we did and learning all did about the history we were more than satisfied that this was 100% the sustainable and ethical way on the island and we could not wait to get them as a stock item. 

We worked with the coop and fishers to understand both the sustainability, the quota’s,  the process of getting the bay to an open status and even the rosters so the fishers all got to have there turn fishing for each of there individual quoats.

We had one little hurdle to overcome and this was to get licensed to sell them live and in the shell. While we are sure many suppliers have sold scallops live and in the shell over the generations we felt that we needed to go the extra distance and get offically licenced not just for scallop shucking which we already had but also for the resale of them live and in the shell.  We worked very closely with the SFPA ( Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority) to get the 1st ever written approval to sell Irish Scallops live and in the shell. 

We are committed to keep pushing for the best and to promote and encourage sustainable small scales fisheries in Ireland.