Gleneagles chef abused on Twitter after call for scallop dredging ban

A top Perthshire chef has revealed he was abused on Twitter for calling for a ban on scallop dredging.

Andrew Fairlie, who runs the eponymous two Michelin star restaurant at Gleneagles Hotel, says the practice on shallow inshore waters is threatening the environment and coastal communities.

He said Tweets on the issue attracted “quite a lot of abuse from fishermen I was accused of being elitist and trying to make scallops a rich man’s food”. Trawlermen have called his comments “over-egged, emotional dogma”.

The £30-million-a-year industry sees trawlers dragging large rakes along the seabed off the coast of Scotland, gathering 98% of the 20,000 tonnes of scallop landed annually.

Mr Fairlie said: “I don’t think you can ban dredging, although they have banned it in Norway where they have one of the healthiest fishing industries in the world. But I think inshore shallow dredging should be banned.”