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Draft storyAt Bracken Waters

A box and a fish

An old cardboard-to-caviar story, and why we check what is true today.

A draft: the words and pictures are waiting for an educator’s review.

Who’s in it

Meet everyone in Gullbrae

The story

In the classroom, Isla opens a folder showing a picture of a plain cardboard box and, separately, a long sturgeon fish, while Eddie looks on curiously.

In the classroom, Isla opened an old story called Cardboard to Caviar. It had a picture of a cardboard box and a long fish called a sturgeon.

For grown-ups: Cardboard to Caviar was a real scheme in Wakefield, England, in the 2000s. The pictures in this story are newly drawn, not old photographs.

Outside the closed gate at Bracken Waters, Eddie holds the box-and-sturgeon picture and gestures towards the covered tanks, while Leena raises one palm.

At Bracken Waters, Eddie held up the picture. Was this what happened here today? Leena raised her hand to stop him there.

At the stables shelter, Leena points to an old-style black-and-white picture of a stable and a sturgeon, beside a colour picture of an island, while Isla and Eddie listen.

At the stables, Leena explained that the old story was real, from years ago. The island picture was made up to help them learn.

On a bench at the stables, Leena lays out four cards in a row, a cardboard box, a horse on shredded bedding, a worm compost bed and a sturgeon, while Isla steadies them.

Leena and Isla put the cards in order: cardboard, then horse bedding, then worms, then the sturgeon. Each step did one job.

For grown-ups: The historical steps, in order: suitable collected cardboard was prepared as horse bedding; the used bedding and manure went to worm composting; the worms were one food for sturgeon; and the sturgeon’s eggs were sold as caviar. Compost was another result. The cardboard did not turn into fish. The worm step is how the scheme is usually described, and we haven’t confirmed every detail ourselves. This is not a home project or something happening today.

At Bracken Waters, Leena gestures to the second of two separate displays, showing tiny green algae, a closed jar and a salmon, while Eddie studies it; the first display shows worms and a sturgeon.

Back at Bracken Waters, Leena showed Eddie a different, modern example. Tiny algae can be grown to make one ingredient for salmon food.

Leena: “Tiny algae can make a useful ingredient. The fish still need a properly balanced diet.”

For grown-ups: The separate modern example: a Scottish company uses suitable whisky-industry co-products to grow microalgae, which are processed into an omega-3 ingredient for fish feed (checked 20 October 2026). It is one ingredient, not the whole diet, and the story does not claim it is used on the island.

In the classroom, Isla closes the folder, Leena checks a tablet, and Eddie listens beside the box-and-sturgeon picture standing in a holder.

Back in class, Isla closed the old story. Leena checked her tablet, because history needs a date, and today needs checking too.

Draft, 20 October 2026. The words and pictures are not yet reviewed by an educator. The story follows the outline in our story guide.

The real-life bit

Cardboard to Caviar was a real scheme in Wakefield, England: used cardboard from restaurants was shredded and sold as horse bedding (Nkandu and Alibaba, 2018), and the scheme went on to feed fish that produced caviar (The Fish Site, 2006). The worm-compost step in the pictures is how the scheme is usually described; we haven’t confirmed every detail ourselves. It is history, not something happening on an island today. A separate modern example: a Scottish company grows microalgae on whisky-industry co-products to make an omega-3 ingredient for fish feed, which is one ingredient, not the whole diet. Gullbrae is made up. Your council’s own rules are the ones to follow.

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