June 11, 2026 — Nantucket’s commercial scalloping industry has become a shell of its former self.
Fewer commercial scallopers, especially younger ones, are combing eelgrass beds each winter for Nantucket bay scallops, arguably New England’s most coveted shellfish.
The harbor’s adult scallop population has been on the rise in recent years, but the number of people willing to spend a morning on the water in wintery conditions has, for the most part, been steadily decreasing.
Close to 20,000 bushels were hauled out of Nantucket and Madaket harbors in 2012, one of the highest-yield seasons in recent memory, according to town shellfish and aquatic resource manager Tara Riley. In the 1980s, it was not unusual for the harvest to exceed 70,000 bushels.
This past commercial season, which wrapped up at the end of March, about 7,800 bushels were harvested. The season before 2024-2025, was the first time more than 10,000 bushels had been caught in nearly a decade.