Could this British favourite soon be gone from chippy menus?

A British favourite at local chippies and pubs could carry a high environmental cost, scientists have warned.

A new study has shown that trawling for scampi can release carbon that’s been trapped in sea mud for thousands of years.

Scampi, traditionally made from langoustines, live in the mud at the bottom of the sea and are found off the coast of Scotland, but fishing for them could threaten ocean ecosystems.

Researchers from the University of Exeter found that bottom trawling, the traditional method of catching scampi, poses an enormous risk to marine life.

Professor Callum Roberts told The Daily Mail that people should avoid British-caught scampi from trawling because of the massive carbon risk they pose.

He and his co-author, Zoe Roseby, found that the Fladen Ground, a major fishing site in the North Sea, holds some 11.65 million tonnes of organic carbon, and is very vulnerable to trawling.

Professor Roberts and his co–author Zoë Roseby investigated an area known as the Fladen Ground, a major Norway lobster fishing site east of Scotland.

‘Most of the carbon stored there was deposited at the end of the last ice age and is not being replenished in our lifetime,’ he explained.

Trawling for scampi kicks up these carbon deposits, which pose a large environmeltal cost, he added.

‘Many people don’t realise that Norway Lobsters live in mud, or that catching them involves towing nets directly across the seabed,’ Dr Roseby added. ‘That makes the environmental cost of scampi largely invisible to consumers.’

Phil Taylor, from the ocean conservation charity Open Seas, said: ‘Unfortunately, management of the fisheries catching scampi is poor.

‘The bottom trawls used flatten and damage habitats throughout huge areas of the North Sea. The trawls also lift carbon locked up in the seafloor, some of which then gets released to the atmosphere.’

‘Given the risks, some consumers may choose to avoid scampi altogether, but ultimately, it’s the regulation of our fisheries that needs to change so that the marine habitats that underpin our fisheries are properly protected.’

SeaFish, the public body supporting the seafood industry, disagreed, calling the findings an ‘unfair criticism’.

‘There has been unfair criticism that the Nephrops [the scientific name for Norway lobster] fishery causes widespread damage to seabed habitats and some of the vulnerable marine life that lives there.

‘Nephrops are usually caught from well–defined areas of soft mud and sandy habitats, which are naturally disturbed by burrowing animals.’

In 2023, a Conservative former minister warned that scampi was at risk of disappearing from pub menus due to crackdowns on foreign fishermen.

Scarborough and Whitby MP Sir Robert Goodwill claimed a company in his constituency that relies on labourers from the Philippines to harvest the pub grub staple could go out of business without special visa exemptions.

Changes to the visa system mean overseas fishermen coming to work in the UK will need a skilled migration visa, with the Home Office refusing exemptions for the sector.

Sir Robert told the Commons: ‘I am not crying wolf when I say this is really putting at risk the scampi industry.’

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