I LOVE Gigha Halibut. It’s hard not to – a delicious fish farmed in a sustainable way on a Scottish island. But Gigha Halibut is soon to be no more as spiralling costs and soaring energy bills have sunk this fantastic Hebridean business.
As I approach Gigha, it is with some anxiety, fearing that the halibut may be symbolic of a wider decline in this community-owned island.
Ted Creek, skipper of the small Dunoon-based small cruise ship the Splendour (www.argyllcruising.com) I am on, eases my fears a little.
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“Gigha still has a really strong, impressively strong, sense of community. There is still a lot going on and I’ve seen some really encouraging signs.”
Stepping ashore on an island only seven miles by one and a half miles, I see an encouraging sign immediately. Despite the impending loss of Gigha Halibut from their menu, The Boathouse still offers an impressive sweep of local seafood and meat. This is an island that dishes up superb oysters, beef and lamb. And The Boathouse has been mentioned in Michelin dispatches now for five years running.
This is one of my favourite spots in the Hebrides to dine, feasting on the freshest of fresh local produce overlooking a white sand beach lapped by aquarium-clear waters.
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Things get brighter still when a short walk into the village brings The Nook, which serves up a rich bounty of fresh local seafood. Here too Gigha Halibut is on the menu, but they have Queenie scallops and other fishy delights too. And, crucially, no fears about the impending loss of local halibut.
“It’s a real shame, but we have lashings of other seafood available to us from the island and also from Kintyre, which is only three miles away across the water. People have a real appetite for the local seafood and we want to keep delivering that,” they tell me.
The Nook is not alone as a thriving business. There are arts and crafts people, and an outdoor activity company, the Gigha Activity Centre, which offers watersports gear and now e-bikes for exploring this sinewy island. They are a great way to get around, especially with a new off-road bike track going in that connects the new campsite with the north of the island. In total, there are nine kilometres of new and upgraded paths that help visitors weave their way between the bountiful farmland and the beach-kissed coast. Everyone I speak to reports a good summer season; there is hope for 2024.
This is all good news for an island I’ve been watching closely since the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust bought it when it came on the market in 2001 after the last private owner Derek Holt sold.
This community buy-out was made possible by £3.5 million from the Scottish Land Fund, via the National Lottery, and £500,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
The community in turn agreed to re-pay £1m after the 2002 buyout, saddling the new community with debts it struggled to pay off in the following years In those tricky fledgling days, the population started as low as 92. I am delighted to find out from the lovely staff at the island’s lifeblood store that it has now risen to nearly 170.
Back then, when I first visited Gigha, the local housing stock was in seriously bad nick too. The community worked hard to shore up the houses and I’m delighted to hear that new community housing is planned. The primary school roll is up too, essential for any island community looking to push on.
Despite the issues that you would expect any community project to have to tackle, my experience is that Gigha is very much a can-do island. Take the local electricity grid. The community have managed to source their own second-hand wind turbines, locally dubbed the “Dancing Ladies”, which not only power the local homes and businesses, but even sell power back into the National Grid on the mainland.
Another recent community project has been to resurrect the 54-acre Achamore Gardens. These gardens were first laid out by Sir James Horlick, of the malty bedtime drink fame.
The gardens now employ two full-time gardeners, who are assisted in their impressive work by a team of island volunteers. What they have achieved since my last visit is remarkable, considering last time I had genuine fears that the gardens would just become reclaimed by Mother Nature in all her wildness.
I came ashore on Gigha worried about the demise of Gigha Halibut and what that might mean for Gigha, the most southerly of our Hebrides.
I leave still gutted by this severe loss, but also heartened by a dynamic community that continues to hurdle all obstacles in its way to make a success of owning their own island.
It is a model of a community drive that perhaps has lessons for other Scottish islands too.
TRAVEL TIP OF THE WEEK
I’M taking my girls in to experience Edinburgh’s Hogmanay this year, but I always stress to people there is so much else going on around Scotland. Two of my favourite events are fire festivals bursting with community spirit. The Comrie Flambeaux sees Perthshire comes alive with a fiery parade through to the River Earn, which rids the village of evil spirits for the year to come. Then there is the Stonehaven Fireballs, whose swirling balls of fire are quite a sight as they are swung around the heads of the bearers! At both events expect lots of fire, drams and good community cheer.
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