Atlantic Sea Scallop

Sweet. Buttery. Briny.

Sea Scallop. Giant Scallop.

The United States Sea Scallop industry is the largest wild scallop fishery in the world. 

Scallops are bivalve molluscs that can be found around the world. Unlike their relative the oyster, scallops are free-swimming molluscs that live inside a hinged shell. What most people recognize as a "scallop" is actually the creature's adductor muscle, which it uses to open and close its shell in order to propel itself in the water.

Atlantic sea scallops have a natural range in the Northwest Atlantic from Maine to Virginia. Atlantic sea scallops live on the ocean bottom, generally at depths from 100 to 300 feet.

A brief history

Monkfish had long been considered a nuisance by fishermen because they were too often pulled up in the nets with more marketable fish.

According to food historian Sandy Oliver, scallops were not the popular shellfish choice amongst settlers in New England. Creatures like oysters and clams were far more popular than scallops. But tastes change, and an appreciation for scallops in the US gradually increased throughout the 19th century. By the 1920s, they had become a regular part of the American diet, especially in coastal communities.

The largest wild scallop fishery is for the Atlantic sea scallop off northeastern US and eastern Canada. In fact, New Bedford, Massachusetts is the U.S. most valuable fishery port, with $451 million worth of seafood coming into the port—Atlantic Sea Scallops accounted for 84% of the port's value. Most of the rest of the world's production of scallops is from Japan and China. In fact, in 2005, China accounted for 80% of the global scallop catch, according to a Food and Agriculture Organization study.

Sea scallops can live up to 20 years. Typically, scallops do not grow larger than 6 inches—however, the largest scallop ever reported was about 9 inches in shell height. Scallops grow rapidly during the first half of their lifetime. Between ages 3 and 5, scallops commonly grow to 50-80% of their shell height and may quadruple their meat weight.

Size

Sea scallops feed by filtering small organisms such as phytoplankton out of the water column—this can actually help improve water quality by removing suspended materials. As water enters the scallop, mucus traps plankton in the water, and then cilia move the food into the scallops' mouth.

Diet

Adult scallops live close together in groups called "beds," on sandy or gravelly parts of the ocean floor. They are generally found at depths of about 100 to 300 feet on Georges Bank and in the Mid-Atlantic. Sea Scallops can be found in shallower waters in Maine and Canada.

Habitat

Atlantic sea scallops have high reproductive capacity; a single sea scallop can produce as many as 270 million eggs during a lifetime. Sea scallops usually spawn in the late summer or early fall. They also may spawn in the spring, especially in the Mid-Atlantic. After hatching, larvae remain in the water column for four to six weeks before settling on the sea floor.

Spawn

Using its adductor muscle to snap its top and bottom shells open and shut, a sea scallop can propel itself through the water. This helps them escape predators that other bivalves, like mussels, clams, and oysters, can't avoid.

On the Move

Pectinidae.

Family

The majority of consumers are most familiar with the plump creamy adductor muscle of the scallop. However, you can eat the majority of the scallop, as long as you remove the digestive tract.

When it comes to cooking with scallops, there are two key factors you should be cognizant of—scallop size, and whether the scallop has been dry- or wet-packed.

Atlantic sea scallop meats are available in a wide range of sizes, product forms, packaging, and pricing options. Scallops are sized according to how many scallops make up a pound. This is simpy a measurement of size. Scallops are sized as follows:

Because of their larger size and ease of handling, U10s are the best scallops for searing and raw dishes such as carpaccio or crudo.

U20s are great as part of a stew or chowder. The very smallest bay scallops, weighing in at 70+ a pound, are best when sauted, stirred into pasta, or ceviche.

Scallops can come packed in 2 forms: wet-packed or dry-packed. When it comes to cooking with scallops, using dry-packed scallops is superior.

Fishermen and wholesalers have historically been allowed to soak or treat scallops in sodium tripolyphosphate-based brines that act as water-retention agents, causing meat to absorb excess moisture. This solution acts as a type of preservative. However, this solution burns off when heat is applied during cooking. This makes it difficult to get a good caramelization on the scallop when searing them, and can oftentimes impart the scallop with a lingering "chemical" taste.

U.S. Federal Law currently limits scallop consumption to the meat (adductor muscle) only. This is because the other parts of the scallop (e.g. the roe, the mantle) can be impacted by red tide and other biotoxins causing diseases such as paralytic shellfish poisoning. Thus, scallops are shucked on the boat immediately after they are harvested. The adductor muscle is reserved and the remaining parts of the scallop are typically thrown overboard.

However, with the rise in aquaculture-grown scallops, which undergo increased biotoxin testing prior to sell, consumers are having increased opportunities to purchase whole live scallops in the shell, and sample nearly all parts of the scallop. 

In the Kitchen

Fresh scallops will keep refrigerated for a few days. They freeze well. Scallops labeled as "dayboat" or "diver" scallops indicate they have been harvested in state waters, and therefore, should only be available fresh during the state scallop seasons.
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With 80% of the calories as protein, scallops are low-fat and widely considered one of the healthiest seafoods. Sea scallops are also a good source of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that protect against cell damage. The meat is also rich in omega-3 fatty acids to help reduce the risk of heart disease. New research into scallop proteins suggests that they could be used in anti-tumor drugs and cancer treatments.

https://seafoodbuyersguide.foodexport.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/21-FENE-4109_Scallop_Toolkit_Interactive_PDF_0202_OUT_Proofed.pdf

The Whole Fish

The only part that is traditionally eaten; the muscle the animal uses to open or close its shell.

Scallops will naturally have subtle variations in the color of the meats, called blushing scallops. The variation doesn't represent any significant difference in taste or quality.

The scallop’s adductor can be seasoned with sea salt, and then easily seared, grilled, or baked.

Adductor Muscle

Aka "coral."

If you can find a fish market that sources roe-on scallops, these are a delicious bite.

A scallop’s roe can be blended and used to thicken a seafood stock or cream sauce.

If searing, it is important to note that the roe cooks faster than the adductor muscle, so add in at end.

It can also be smoked and blended to create a delicious taramasalata.

roe

The scallop’s mantle is oftentimes quickly discarded without thought of its culinary property. The mantle can help form the delicious base of a dashi or seafood stock. 

The mantle can also be trimmed into “noodles,” brined in a blend of water and 5% salt for up to 10 minutes, and seared in olive oil.

In Japan, the scallop’s mantle is seared and served as a snack alongside alcohol.

Mantle

The Atlantic Sea Scallop fishery is one of the most valuable fisheries in the US. Production and suppliers exist throughout the states along this species range with most of the harvest landed in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Beginning in the 1990s, scientists and harvesters have worked side-by-side to restore the fishery, which was becoming overfished, and have transformed it into the largest wild scallop fishery in the world.

Atlantic sea scallops are found in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, from Newfoundland to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. In 2022, the commercial landings of scallops totaled 31.6 million pounds of scallop meats, valued at $478M.

Fishing & Sustainability

Harvest Methods

turtle deflector-style dredge. trawl gear. scuba diving.

U.S. commercial fishermen harvest sea scallops year-round primarily dredges that are dragged behind a boat. The most common dredge type used is a turtle deflector-style dredge that catches scallops much like rakes collect leaves. These dredges are either used singularly, or paired with another dredge. The turtle deflector dredge excludes sea turtles from being caught in the dredge and prevents serious injuries to turtles.

To a lesser extent, and mainly in the Mid-Atlantic region, the scallop fishery uses tawl gear.

There is a very small market for ultra high-end scallops collected by scuba divers, choosing only the larges ones by hand between December and February. 

Managers and the fishing industry continue to collaborate to redesign scallop dredges allow juvenile scallops and groundfish to escape dredges, mitigate damage to the seafloor, and avoid catching sea turtles.

Harvesting Scallops

Most vessels land scallops as shucked meats (the adductor muscle) but some vessels also land whole (in-shell) scallops.

When the dredge is hauled back and its contents are deposited onto the deck of the fishing vessel, the crew manually sorts the harvest by size into buckets. The buckets are taken to a cutting room where the catch is manually shucked. The meats are washed, placed in 50-pound cheesecloth bags, and iced.

Fishing vessels will deliver their catch to the shoreside processor that owns that vessel or, as is the case for much of the harvest, the catch is delivered to an auction house in New Bedford, Massachusetts. There, the bags are opened for quality inspection. Processors bid through this electronic auction to obtain a fishing vessel’s whole catch or a portion of it. Fishermen decide on the price they will accept.

A federal Atlantic Sea Scallop Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) was implemented in 1982. Further, states, such as Maine, have enacted similar management plans for vessels harvesting scallops in state waters. While most fisheries are regulated by how much they catch, the Scallop fishery is regulated by effort control, and harvest area rotations. 

This means that each vessel has a limited number of crew allowed to work onboard. Further the harvest area rotation maximizes scallop yields while protecting beds of young scallops. Areas closed to harvest allow resident scallops to grow larger and reproduce more often before being subject to a harvest. In Maine waters, the scallop season is restricted to "zones" with certain areas closed as they approach unsustainable harvesting levels. Offshore scallop fishing areas (beyond three miles from the shore) are opened and closed on a rotational basis, with a limit on total annual catch and limits on bycatch of yellowtail flounder. Each scallop vessel must carry a tracking device, which plots the area from where scallops have been harvested

Environmental Impact & Efforts

  • Federal and State regulations are in place to minimize bycatch of species such as yellowtail flounder.

    Managers determine a total allowable catch for the scallop fishery based on estimates of the scallop population. They allocate this catch amount to different groups in the fishery, depending on their permit type and historical catch, through days-at-sea and number of trips to special access areas.

    Other management includes:

    • Limits on crew size

    • Areas closed to scallop dredging to allow young scallops to grow large and reproduce, and to reduce bycatch of non-targeted species

    • Vessels harvesting scallops must use vessel monitoring (a satellite communication system used to monitor fishing activity)

    • Managers have implemented a variety of measures to protect habitat from potential impacts on fishing gear.

    • Several areas are closed year-round to harvesting scallops to protect sensitive habitat.

    • Fishermen use 4-inch rings in their scallop dredges that increase the dredges' efficiency, catching larger scallops and allowing smaller scallops and other small marine life to return to the sea floor by passing through the dredge rings. The 4-inch rings reduce the amount of time dredges contact the bottom.

    • Managers seasonally prohibit fishing in areas where finfish species congregate, reducing catch of these untargeted species

    • Area closures and gear restrictions protect habitat that are affected by some kinds of trawl and dredge gear

According to NOAA, the U.S. wild-caught sea scallops are a smart seafood choice because it is sustainably managed and responsibly harvested under U.S. regulations.