Landings for species such as shrimp, scallops, herring, urchins and many types of groundfish peaked in Maine in the 1980s and 1990s, which has led to economic challenges for fishermen as their costs increase and their catches decline. Even in Maine’s lobster fishery, which according to preliminary estimates may have hit a record high in 2011 of more than 100 million pounds, lower prices and rising expenses have put a crimp in the industry’s bottom line.

There is one new scallop dealer based in the midcoast area, however, who thinks she may be able to offset declining catches in that fishery with a new product. Togue Brawn, a former Maine Department of Marine Resources staffer, is the first dealer in Maine to get a special license to buy and sell scallops still attached to the shell. In December, she began buying scallops in the half-shell from half a dozen of Maine fishermen and then selling them to restaurants as a value-added product.

No fishery in Maine has faced tougher times in recent years than the scallop industry. Low population estimates led the state to nearly cancel the second half of the 2009 scallop season, and since then DMR has prohibited scallop harvesting in several areas along the coast in an effort to get stocks to rebound. Even in areas where harvesting has been allowed, scallop fishermen this winter have been coping with low landings, especially in Cobscook Bay, which has long been considered one of the best scalloping areas in the state.

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