If you are the right candidate, Richard Irvine will give you his business and train you to run it. He will hand over his keys, customers and secrets to smoking fish — all free.

The catch: You have to commit to living on a remote Scottish island called Colonsay. Population 125.

There is already global competition for the position.

Mr. Irvine, 65, established the Colonsay Smokery in 2022 and has been building the business with the intention of giving it away, he said in a phone interview on Tuesday. Interest in the giveaway has been high, he said, and he has more candidates than he expected. He hopes to choose a recipient by midsummer.

“I’m getting loads and loads of inquiries from people I’d call dreamers and schemers,” Mr. Irvine said. “One just came from St. Lucia now, while we’re talking,” he added about a candidate from the Caribbean island nation.

Mr. Irvine has also received dozens of inquiries from candidates and news media requests from Italy, Spain and the United States, among other places, since the BBC in Scotland wrote about the offer on Monday. “How I’ll filter these out, I have no idea,” he said.

In a world torn by wars and economic struggles, the idea of life on a remote Scottish island may hold allure for a lot of people — even if it involves smoking fish for a living. Colonsay, Mr. Irvine said, is a great place to escape the hustle and bustle of big-city existence.

The island is off the west coast of Scotland in the Atlantic Ocean, about 20 miles from the mainland, and is reachable by ferry. It is about two miles wide and 10 miles long, with sandy beaches, scenic paths, a golf course, a bookshop, several dining and watering holes and a local publication, The Colonsay Times, which comes out seasonally, once in the winter, spring, summer and fall.

The last time the island made international headlines was when The Times of Britain revealed in March that an Irish banker accused of fraud had evaded the law enforcement authorities for many years by adopting a new identity and living as a builder on Colonsay, starting around 2012.

The banker turned builder was “a really charming chap,” if not much of a craftsman, Mr. Irvine said, but he “just disappeared.”

The smokery project emerged from a plan gone awry.

Mr. Irvine and his wife, Pru Irvine, who honeymooned on the island, had been planning an early retirement on Colonsay once their youngest son, who has a learning disability, was living independently. But the pandemic derailed their son’s plans and Ms. Irvine stayed with him on the mainland, south of Edinburgh, while Mr. Irvine worked on their house on Colonsay.

He became acutely aware of a problem plaguing the place he loves. “We just need more young people,” he said.

There are about 75 people over age 65 and about 45 working-age people with several children, he said. There are few affordable homes on Colonsay and not many jobs, making it difficult for the community to attract new families.

Several retirees volunteer with the community development company to work on the housing issue, so Mr. Irvine thought he would do his part by creating an economic opportunity. He describes himself as a “serial business creator” who has worked in construction, as a chef and as head of a branding consultancy.

But Mr. Irvine had never run a fish smoking business when he embarked on the creation of the Colonsay Smokery with support from a Norwegian seafood company, MOWI, that has a salmon farming business on the island and agreed to supply him with fish at a preferential rate. MOWI, which has also been involved in local housing development efforts, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Irvine says he spent about 50,000 pounds — around $65,000 — on the project, reviving an abandoned farm, getting a license and learning to filet, cure and smoke fish. Preparing the product is a five-day process that involves prep and fileting, pin boning and drying, smoking, slicing and packing.

He sells his products locally, to high-end delis on the mainland and by mail order. He says he has earned his investment back and can hand over the smokery at no cost to “someone who doesn’t have £50,000” but longs to have his or her own business.

There are specific characteristics he thinks the ideal candidate should have. The person would most likely be half of a young professional couple or family, with one partner working remotely from Colonsay and the other running the smokery.

“It’s a big leap to take,” he admitted.

Still, he said, there are rewards.

“I like waking up and seeing nature,” he said, “but I also like going to the pub and standing by the man who does the bins” — as in collecting the garbage — “on equal footing.”