CAPE MAY — Rising scallop prices helped boost this commercial fishing port’s catch to $81 million in 2010, an increase of slightly more than 10 percent over 2009.
“The catch is the same. It’s just that the price is better,” said Tom McNulty Jr., 30, of Middle Township, who works on the family-owned scallop boat Negotiator.
The 2010 data kept Cape May — including docks in Wildwood — the second largest port on the East Coast behind New Bedford, Mass., which retained its No. 1 ranking with $306 million in catch. New Bedford, also a large scallop port, totaled $249 million in fish in 2009.
Massachusetts remained the top state for scallops by harvesting 31.2 million pounds of the 57.5-million-pound U.S. catch. New Jersey was No. 2 at 14.2 million pounds.
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