Fresh Scallops

Three of the top US ports hauling in sea scallops include New Bedford, MA; Cape May, NJ; and Norfolk, VA. Each seaboard state has its own regulations on catch methods and the limits on scallops.  Most sea scallops are landed by large offshore “trip boats.” Scallopers from New Bedford, Massachusetts, will go out fishing for 10 days or more at a time. Commercial scallop fishermen use dredging nets, also called drags, which sweep the grassy beds to catch several dozen at a time. Seaweed, mussels and starfish can be dragged up from the ocean floor. The smaller bay scallops are closer to shore and are harvested in bays and estuaries by nets, rakes as well as dredges.

As sea scallops have a short shelf-life out of water, they must be removed from their shell immediately after harvesting. Shucking scallops is the toughest work in scalloping and often happens on board the boat at sea. The scallops are cut by hand and washed in clean salt water, put into muslin bags and then held on ice or flash frozen at sea. The shell, black gut or stomach sac, including the roe, are usually discarded.