The sale
Macduff Shellfish, a business crucial to the Stornoway fishing fleet, was sold by its Canadian owner Clearwater to Seafood Ecosse, an established east coast Scottish seafood company. The deal, which returned the business to Scottish ownership, completed on 24 July 2025.
What the deal covers
Based at Goat Island, Macduff provides a secure market for around 30 prawn vessels working the Minch’s Stornoway-based fishing fleet and beyond, and also processes catches landed at mainland ports. Its premium brand, Wild-Caught Hebridean Langoustines, is exported to 18 countries and the site employs around 30 people. Euan Beaton, who previously led Macduff Shellfish Group before its sale to Clearwater, was expected to return in a role under the new ownership.
Clearwater bought Macduff in 2015 for around £98 million but had been divesting underperforming assets amid wider business pressures; it continues running east coast scallop vessels supplying Macduff’s processing operations under the new strategic alliance. Seafood Ecosse, a 30-year-old company with processing sites in Fraserburgh and Peterhead, had been rumoured as a buyer for some time. Its managing director, David Leiper, said the acquisition would strengthen the group’s service offering for customers, suppliers and stakeholders, and vessel owners were told the new owners wanted to develop the business further.
Where things stand now
Over a year on from completion, no further change in ownership has been reported, and Macduff’s Stornoway operation continues to anchor a fleet of Minch-based prawn boats that supply one of the Isle of Lewis’s most significant local industries.
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Source: Stornoway Gazette.
