You can get scallops any time of year in Maine? How can that be possible when the fishery is only open in the winter? Both of those queries are valid and hold some truth about Maine’s scallop fishery. You can get scallops any time of year from Maine waters, but they come from waters further offshore with the exception of the month of December. That’s when the scallop fishery in nearshore waters is open. And that’s why you often hear buzz about winter scallops.

Scallops are one of the most valuable of Maine’s fisheries, bringing in close to $7 million in 2020. That’s behind lobster ($406 million) and soft shell clams (approx $16 million). While scallops might not be as closely related to lobster as they are to clams, there is more in common than you might think. Some of the boats that fish for lobster re-rig their boats for scalloping in the winter. They use a small drag that is essentially a mesh of heavy chain that is towed along the seafloor behind the boat. Scallops are brought on board and shucked right away. Some scallops are also collected by hearty divers that use mesh bags to capture them.

Both of these are entirely different methods from those used to harvest soft shell clams which are dug by hand from the intertidal. That’s because the behavior of these two species is also entirely different. Clams stay relatively put as compared to scallops which are impressively speedy swimmers. They pump their large shells together to generate a kind of jet propulsion that shoots them through the water along the seafloor. Clams, on the other hand, move up and down rather than from side to side. They use a muscular foot to dig down in the mud. This foot is part of the clam that we eat, along with the rest of its body.

The part of a scallop that we typically eat, however, is only its muscle. This muscle is not a foot, but instead an adductor muscle, one that holds its two shells together and also opens and closes those shells to help it move. Clams and mussels also have adductor muscles, but they are smaller and stringier since they don’t use this muscle for movement. Think about how hard it is to open a mussel, for example. That’s because of the adductor muscle. You can see the two little attachment points on either of its shells if you open it up. It is a pretty tough muscle in mussels because they use it to stay snapped shut most of the time, or at least mostly shut. They open up just enough to filter out plankton from the water. A scallop’s adductor muscle, however, is tender and succulent.

Scallops are found throughout the world, but the biggest wild scallop fishery is right here in the Northwest Atlantic. Most of the scallops caught come from the federal fishery, which is further than three miles offshore. This fishery operates year-round and is managed by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC). The Maine state fishery is only for water within three miles of the coast. It begins in December and typically goes until March.

There are a variety of management tools used by the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) to manage this fishery including daily catch limits and size restrictions. It is also divided into zones that are closed on a rotating basis depending on survey results. Perhaps the biggest limitation, however, is the number of permits issued. The DMR selects from those who have applied by lottery each year. Some of these permits are for divers and some are for draggers. These are marketed as “diver” or “day boat” scallops, accordingly, and are a good way to know whether scallops came from offshore or inshore waters.

Although I always particularly enjoy scallops in the winter, knowing that they come from not too far from shore, they are a delicious and healthy option that I’m grateful is available year-round.

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