Everything you need to know about scallops

By Togue Brawn 
Togue Brawn recently left the Maine Department of Marine Resources, where she worked for four years to strengthen and improve Maine's scallop management program.  This winter, she will be launching a new company designed to increase the popularity and appreciation of Maine scallops by bringing them directly from harvesters to restaurateurs.  In the meantime, she is doing consulting work in fisheries research, facilitation and policy, and also works at J's Oyster on Portland's waterfront.

You may have heard of the "Northeast scallop fishery", which has expanded dramatically in the past two decades thanks to the use of conservation closures. The closures were originally put in place to protect federal groundfish stocks.  Although the results for groundfish were mixed and often debatable, the closures led to a huge increase in the scallop population, which currently supports the highest-value fishery in the Northeast. 

(For more information see http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/species/atl_sea_scallop.htm)

Maine fishermen also fish for scallops in state waters, although the Maine fishery is somewhat different. Maine scallops have been harvested commercially since the late 1800's. The traditional and most common form of harvest is by drag or dredge, and dragged scallops comprise the vast majority of today's harvest.  In the 1970's, a dive fishery developed, which continues to this day in several areas of the coast.  You may have seen "Maine diver scallops" on the menu at fancy restaurants.  Maine diver scallops fetch a high price, because many believe they are harvested in a more sustainable manner.  The argument goes that because divers can be very selective, only the largest scallops are harvested, leaving others to grow and reproduce.  Also, diving does not involve dragging a large heavy chunk of metal across the ocean floor.  However, as with most things in fisheries management, it's not that simple....

While divers are able to harvest selectively, they're also able to access areas that drags can’t' reach.  For instance, raised rocky areas are off limits to draggers due to the damage they'd do to the dredge gear.  As a result, these "rock piles" provide a sort of scallop sanctuary, and can host dense concentrations of large scallops.  Because fecundity increases with both the size of the individual scallop and the concentration of scallops in an area, many believe these clusters, scattered along Maine's rocky coast, provided a broodstock sanctuary that replenished all of Maine's scallop population.  Many draggers assert Maine's scallop fishery declined dramatically when the number of divers harvesting scallops exploded due to the "gold rush" and subsequent decline of Maine's sea urchin fishery (see http://www.maine.gov/dmr/rm/seaurchin/index.htm).  They assert that the excess divers found all the broodstock piles and wiped them out, leaving nothing to replenish the resource.

This issue is further complicated by the fact that many of the scallops listed as "Maine diver scallops" aren't actually from Maine, and likely aren't harvested by divers.  Because of the relative cache and therefore higher price they command, some unscrupulous dealers will label their product as Maine diver, regardless of its provenance.

To be fair, divers point out that draggers harvest all sizes of scallops, and can "obliterate" the bottom with their drags.  Both divers' and draggers' arguments have merit, but neither one of them tells a complete story. Drag gear will always be unable to harvest some scallops, and divers will always be unable to harvest some scallops, such as those in very deep water or areas of strong tidal current.  But when these gears are combined, they can completely remove all scallops from an area.  Many believe that's what happened in the early 2000's, when Maine's scallop fishery essentially collapsed (see http://www.maine.gov/dmr/commercialfishing/documents/scallop.graph_000.pdf).

The Maine Department of Marine Resources has made significant efforts in recent years to manage its state water scallop fishery more responsibly.  Rather than blaming draggers or divers, they've sought to implement changes that focus on the resource itself and affect all harvesters. In the past four years, the season has been reduced from 132 to 70 days, a daily limit has been implemented, entry to the fishery has been limited, fines for penalties have been increased, and a series of large conservation closures has been implemented (see http://www.maine.gov/dmr/rm/scallops/index.htm for these and other changes).

So where does that leave the responsible consumer?  Well, if you want to eat locally harvested scallops in Maine, there are a few things you should know:

1.) Maine's scallop fishery is a small boat, winter fishery.  The vast majority of the scallops are landed on the same day they're harvested.  This contrasts greatly with the federal waters fishery, where the scallops are often a week old by the time they hit the dock.

2.) REPEAT: Maine's scallop fishery is a winter fishery.  If something is labeled as a "Fresh Maine Scallop" any time from April through November, it's almost certainly untrue (a small exception exists for scallops caught in the federal waters off Maine's coast, but this is very uncommon).  If they're labeled "Fresh Maine Diver Scallops" in any month other than December, January, February or March, they're not labeled correctly.

3.) Scallops from Maine's state water fishery are harvested by small, day boat fishermen who rely on scalloping to help them get through the winter.  The majority of Maine scallops are harvested by Hancock and Washington County fishermen, in some of the most economically depressed areas of the state.  This contrasts greatly to federal water fishery, where many (but certainly not all) fishing enterprises are run by corporations.

4.) The state of Maine has made huge progress in the past four years to improve the management of its state water resource. Whether these efforts will produce a long-term sustainable fishery remains to be seen, but it is certain that fishermen are making sacrifices and managers are taking a hard line to work towards that goal.

So, in a nutshell... IT'S COMPLICATED!  But Maine scallops are likely to be fresher when in season than those from the offshore fishery, and they're also harvested by the small, family enterprises we tend to favor.  So the best thing to do is to eat as many Maine scallops as you can between mid-December and mid-March, and don't worry about whether they were caught by a diver or a dragger.  If you're eating a Maine scallop, you're doing something good.