People have been eating fish in Orkney for more than 5,000 years – evidence dates back to Neolithic times.  Much later the islands’ harbours grew in prosperity during the herring boom when fishing boats and herring gutters travelled up the coast to follow the shoals.

Our clean waters and North Atlantic Drift make Orkney a sea angler’s paradise and hand-dived scallops are one of the many shellfish treats you can enjoy here.  Crab (known locally as partan) is processed by Orkney Fishermen's Society, the UK's largest processor, and sent south to be stocked by upmarket retailers or find its way into premium products.  But it is available here too, along with other shellfish and whitefish, in local grocery and parish stores.

Fishmongers in Orkney – Pierowall Fish in Westray and Jollys of Orkney in Kirkwall - are the main purveyors of fish and fish products. According to the season you will find a large range of whitefish from haddock to halibut and sole to monkfish but also some less familiar but equally tasty varieties such as megrim and witch.  Ling is popular too and is also available salted, as is herring and haddock.  The fish is either table brined and air dried to preserve it or herring is brined in barrels. Salting fish is a preserving tradition common in Scandinavia, Shetland and Orkney and right across the Atlantic, especially the South of France, Spain and Portugal.  While the practice has died out in most British homes it remains here as a custom while upmarket chefs praise the flavour of salt fish.  Soak the fish and rinse out the salt and serve with tatties for a traditional Orkney dish.

Fish is smoked in Orkney too, including organic and non-organic Orkney farmed salmon, trout, haddock and Arctic char.  Herring soused in flavoured marinades in the Scandinavian style is the basis of another successful business, the Orkney Herring Company, whose products can be found across the UK.

Another Orkney tradition is the gathering of spoots (razorfish) when the spoot beds are uncovered by the tide in the spring for just a few hours a year.  You can find them on sale in the season.  They'll have been gathered by a local with a long knife - whilst walking backwards to spot them.  Whelks and cockles are other shellfish collected on the shore and sometimes available in the shops.