• The Life Cycle of a Scallop
• Harvesting in the U.S.
• Types & Species of Scallops
• Scallop Processing
• Preparation & Recipes

Harvesting in the U.S.
Scallops are harvested by dredging and are shucked soon after they are caught. Because scallops can not hold their shells tightly closed and thus lose moisture after being caught, they are shucked by hand immediately, put in large cheesecloth bags and placed in the boat's "ice hold" and held at a consistent, low temperature.

The largest scallop populations are in the North and Mid-Atlantic. Harvesting is done by large vessels, usually about 80-100 feet long, with a crew of 7 people. The scallop beds are found many miles off shore making a typical "open area" trip about two weeks in length and a "closed area" trip as short as 4 days.

Full time scallop vessels are only allowed to fish the Atlantic for a limited number of "open days at sea" plus a defined number of "closed area" trips. Each vessel is allowed a maximum of 18,000 pounds of scallops per "closed area" trip. To give you an example on how these "days at sea" work, let's take a look at the fishing season 2006. Scallop vessels are allowed 52 "open days at sea" and 3 "closed area" trips in Closed Area II and 2 trips in Nantucket Lightship. (See our map of the Atlantic Ocean in our Harvesting section of the website for the location of the closed areas). Because the fishing season begins on March 1st of each year, the supply of fresh scallops is usually highest in the spring and summer months. By winter, many boats have used up their "days at sea" so fresh supply of domestic scallops are lower at this time of the year.

Despite the limited harvesting, freezing capabilities have made year-round supply of scallops a reality. Also, the importing of scallops from regions around the world has made seasonality a non-issue.