For a creature that grows to only a few inches in length, and which demands little of the planet other than a silty seabed in which to excavate its burrow, the Scottish langoustine is about to leave a hefty carbon footprint.
Young’s, the seafood company, plans to ship the prawns from the West Coast of Scotland, where they are caught, on a 12,000-mile, nine-week round trip to Thailand, where they will be hand-peeled by workers earning 25p an hour.
They will then be shipped back to Scotland before being breaded and packaged as premium “Scottish Island” scampi for British supermarkets.
The langoustine shells are currently removed at the Annan plant with water jets.The company claims that shelling by hand produces a superior quality scampi, and that this cannot be carried out in Scotland because wage costs would be prohibitive.
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