July 15, 2021 — Fishermen are harvesting fewer scallops off the East Coast as the population of the valuable shellfish appears to be on the decline.
Sea scallops are one of the most profitable resources in the Atlantic, and the U.S. fishery was worth more than $570 million at the docks in 2019. Fishermen harvested more than 60 million pounds that year.
But fishermen harvested about 43.5 million pounds in 2020 after a projection that they would collect more than 51 million pounds, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. They’re expected to harvest about 40 million pounds this year, NOAA said.
NOAA officials cautioned that the scallop population is not in peril, and 40 million pounds is still a lot of scallops. That is a higher number than any year from 2013 to 2015.
The decline in scallops stems from slowing growth in key fishing areas such as Georges Bank and the mid-Atlantic, and some disappointing production in the Nantucket Lightship Area off Massachusetts, said Teri Frady, a NOAA spokesperson. She said the fishery is still well within overfishing limits.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Seattle Times