A study involving local fishermen has been shedding new light on the lives of brown crabs in the Orkney Islands. Researchers from Heriot-Watt's International Centre for Island Technology (ICIT) have been tagging brown crabs and have found that some females of the species travel more than 100 miles in their lives.
The results of the study were presented at the Orkney International Science Festival this week. Kate Walker Project Co-ordinator from ICIT said: ''We've had really, really good returns.
"All the fishermen know about it and if they see one of my tags they write down the coordinates and let me know, which is good.
"And we've even got some of the fishermen actively tagging, which is also very good because I think it's good that they are involved in what the science is doing in Orkney and understand their fishery as well.''
Image: Matt Davis, Heriot-Watt University