1760 MACDUFF HARBOUR IS BUILT
Macduff's fishing and boat-building industries came to dominate the town. This is where our business began, and from where we take our name.
1800s SCOTLAND'S FISHING BOOM
The government in London began to subsidise larger herring boats, and the coming of the railways meant Scotland could easily send fish to the growing towns of England.
1880s JOHN BEATON STARTS TRADING
In the 19th century, when the Scottish herring industry was at its height, John Beaton started trading in fish. His descendants are still involved in Macduff Shellfish today.
1914 WAR AND PEACE
The First World War interrupted the growth of the fishing industry in Scotland, with many fishermen signing up for the Royal Navy Reserve. They returned to a declining industry.
1945 CHANGING TIMES
After the Second World War, the Scottish fishery concentrated more and more on white fish, with increasing activity in shellfish.
MID 20th CENTURY LIVE LOBSTERS
After decades of trading in white fish, the Beaton family started to work with live lobsters and shellfish.
1980s EXPORTING FOR THE FIRST TIME
At a site in Macduff, the Beatons begin to process and export langoustines.
1996 THE MOVE TO MINTLAW
By now the business was outgrowing its Macduff site, and the company invested in a new plant at Mintlaw, 20 miles away.
2001 WE MOVE NEXT DOOR
Growing again, we moved into much bigger premises just next door to our original Mintlaw plant. With all our work in one place now, we closed our Macduff premises, but kept the name.
2005 LANGOUSTINE SCOTLAND'S BIGGEST CATCH
Also known as the Dublin Bay prawn and the Norwegian lobster, langoustine landed in Scotland was worth ~£38.5 million in 2005.
2012 GREAT SCOTT
We bought Dumfries-based Scott Trawlers, the largest scallop fishing fleet in the UK. The fleet includes two vessels with frozen at sea capability - unique in the UK scallop industry.
2013 SALTIRE ADDED
Following the acquisition of the Scott fleet of scallop trawlers, we bought Saltire Seafoods' four vessels, adding the boats and the 25 strong crew to the Dumfries-based operation.
2013 ISLAND HOPPING
In September 2013 we bought a processing facility from Young's Seafoods in Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides.
2014 MACDUFF RE-BRAND
To further develop brand positioning around exceptional quality Macduff carried out a major re-brand.
2015 CLEARWATER ACQUIRES MACDUFF
Clearwater Seafoods completes £98 million acquisition of Macduff Shellfish Group.
2021 EXPANDING LANGOUSTINE PROCESSING CAPABILITIES
New processing facility for day boat harvested langoustines on the west coast of Scotland, Goat Island, Stornoway with state-of-the-art equipment.
If you are interested in purchasing from us:
Call +44 (0)1771 624000
sales@macduffshellfish.co.uk