Disco Scallops™ - what’s wrong with normal scallops?

Scallops are one of the true treasures of our waters. Sweet, delicate, and utterly delicious when cooked simply, they’ve earned their place as a star of seafood dining. But there’s another side to scallops that’s less appetising: the way most of them are caught. Traditional dredging methods drag heavy gear across the seabed, flattening habitats and disturbing everything in their path. It's not just destructive, it’s inefficient too. The catch per unit effort in the UK is low, meaning you have to scrape a huge area to catch a modest number of scallops, all while dragging up bycatch and disturbing habitats along the way. 

That’s why we’re so excited about Disco Scallops™, a smarter, cleaner way of fishing that gives us scallops without the damage (and with a rather lovely story instead).

So how do you catch them?

Disco Scallops™ use pot fishing combined with LED light technology. Scallops are naturally drawn to the glow, and instead of dragging them up in dredges, fishermen catch them gently in pots. The difference is huge: no gouged seabeds, no ruined habitats, and no collateral damage to marine life. As they travel into the pots and jump for the lights, they could be mistaken for having a party, dancing to the lights. This is how they got their name - Disco Scallops™.

Better still, any scallops that are undersized are returned alive, ensuring the stock remains healthy for future generations. There’s highly reduced bycatch, and crab and lobster fishermen can utilise their existing fishing trips, meaning you don’t get the level of fuel guzzling a lot of industrial fishing takes. It’s a method that puts the long-term future of the fishery ahead of short-term gain, something we believe in wholeheartedly.

This is seafood you can feel good about. With a catch method that lets you sleep at night, producing a scallop that leaves a good taste in your mouth.

And they actually do leave a good taste in my mouth?

YES. They do. Because Disco Scallops™ aren’t dredged across sand and grit, they arrive in better condition too. Their shells are intact, their meat cleaner, their flavour sweeter. We think because they’re caught without the stress and chaos that a scallop endures dredging, the meat is just that much firmer too. When you cook them — whether pan-fried with butter, grilled in the half shell, or folded through pasta — the result is a scallop that’s both superb on the plate and kinder to the sea it came from.

Hmmm, now my stomach is rumbling

Of course it is! We’ve always believed that the future of seafood lies in sustainability, in looking after the ocean so that it can look after us. Disco Scallops™ represent exactly that kind of thinking. Innovative, respectful of the environment, working directly with coastal communities,  and producing a premium product that’s second to none.

That’s why we’re proud to stock them in our Online Seafood Market. When you buy Disco Scallops™, you’re not just getting a fantastic meal. You’re also supporting a better way of fishing, one that bolsters the livelihoods of small-scale fishermen and helps safeguard our seas for the future.

But are there enough for everyone?

We want to make it our goal to serve only Disco Scallops™ in the future. But whilst they continue to build up their popularity and more fishermen take on LED pots to catch them, we do source scallops from a different fishing method. When the scallops aren’t Disco, they’re hand-dived. This is a different method that also ensures minimal damage of the environment. As the name suggests, divers catch the scallops by hand.

So Disco Scallops™ are the future!

The Future is Bright (literally). The very idea of using light to fish scallops might sound playful but it’s a serious innovation with real impact. If more of the industry follows suit, we could see scallop fishing transformed from one of the most destructive methods into one of the most responsible.

Until then, every plate of Disco Scallops™ is a small but significant step in the right direction. Delicious, sustainable, and — if you ask us — with a story worth celebrating.