Recent surveys of Atlantic sea scallops in U.S. waters show potential for good harvests in the next few years.
NOAA Fisheries’ 2024 Integrated Sea Scallop and HabCam Research Survey indicate strong numbers of two-year-old scallops in both dredge samples and HabCam images. Sea scallops typically reach harvestable size at about age 4 and older.
The scallops were found in the southern part of the Great South Channel, the eastern portion of the Nantucket Lightship Area, the northern portion of Closed Area I, and in the Elephant Trunk and Hudson Canyon South areas in the Mid-Atlantic.
During the 2024 survey, NOAA included three cruises, exclusively used a commercial vessel for dredging, and, for the first time, deployed a Tethys-class long-range autonomous underwater vehicle.
The HabCam IV and Stella vehicles continuously photograph the ocean bottom while they collect other data about conditions in the waters in which they operate. Stella was designed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. It is owned and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, equipped with WHOI-designed stereo imaging camera payloads.
The dredge is a standardized 8-foot-wide New Bedford sea scallop dredge that collects sea scallops and associated bycatch for biological analyses along with some environmental variables.
The Atlantic sea scallop population is surveyed every summer by NOAA Fisheries and partnering research groups, supported through the Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside program.
This year those partners are:
Coonamessett Farm Foundation
Maine Department of Marine Resources
University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth School of Marine Science and Technology
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
NOAA contracted with the commercial scalloper F/V Selje out of New Bedford, Massachusetts for its scallop dredge survey. Surveys were conducted in the southern New England and Georges Bank areas.
The Mid-Atlantic and other parts of Georges Bank dredge surveys were conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
New Bedford, Massachusetts is a leading U.S. port in terms of value. Sea scallops are the most valuable seafood landed in New Bedford.
source: NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center
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