The scallops will be placed in areas which can be dredged by fishermen without harming important rocky reefs which are home to cold water corals.

The scallops are being collected in floating net bags which were made by Devon Wildlife Trust volunteers and put in the sea in Start Bay, South Devon and off Beer in Lyme Bay last summer.

When Lyme Bay Reefs Project officer Richard Stanford hauled in some of the nets with the help of Devon Sea Fisheries and its vessel Drumbeat of Devon, he was thrilled to find them bulging with thousands of tiny scallops.

He said: "We really didn't know if this would work, but what we found were literally hundreds of queen scallops inside bags encrusted with yet more shellfish."

Richard Stanford with the scallop collectors

The thousands of scallops are now being grown on in nets off Brixham. They will later be transferred to Lyme Bay.

"We will put them in areas where dredging for scallops will not damage the habitat - areas of gravels and mobile sediments, away from the reefs," Richard added.

"The fishermen have already agreed to the closure to fishing of two areas of reefs, and we are really keen to see a thriving fishing industry. This trial project is a way of boosting the local scallop stock for the direct benefit of the fishermen.

We want to create a sustainable fishery and if you look after the environment, you will look after the fishery."

He said fishermen had shown great interest in the idea, which has been done on a larger scale in Scotland.

If the initial success continues, the number of scallop-collecting net bags could be multiplied in future years.

"Many of the scallop dredgers think this idea has a lot of mileage and it's been a real combined effort. Wildlife Trust volunteers made the bags out of nets confiscated by the Environment Agency and donated to us.

"Local fishermen took us out on boats to place them and the Devon Sea Fisheries team helped us haul them out."

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