Scallops: Sea

Giant scallop

Sea scallop is an economically-important species in the Atlantic Ocean, with active fisheries in both the United States and Canada. Sea scallops occur from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in the US to the north shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland, Canada. They typically occur in waters 20-110 metres depth. Scallops become increasingly restricted to deeper waters in the southern portion of their range due to their sensitivity to high water temperatures.

The life history characteristics of scallops make them inherently resilient to fishing pressure. This species is relatively widespread across the northwest Atlantic and has an extensive larval dispersal.

Sea scallop biomass has increased greatly since the mid 1990s in all fisheries. There is still overfishing occurring in the mid-Atlantic fishery where dredging has skewed age distributions by removing all large scallops in some areas. Fishing mortality and biomass levels in Canadian and northeast US stocks have been acceptable over the past seven years and stocks are considered “healthy”. The biomass levels are high in the mid-Atlantic but the fishing mortality is at an unacceptable level. This overfishing warrants an overall stock status rating of “poor”.

Both the northern and southern sea scallop fisheries have bycatch conerns and both Canada and the northeastern US are rated as having moderate bycatch. In the mid-Atlantic loggerhead turtles, a species listed as threatened, are caught as bycatch. The overall nature of bycatch is ranked as “moderate” across all US and Canadian sea scallop fisheries.

The scallop fishery operates almost completely through dredging bottom habitats which has severe impacts on benthic communities. The scallop fishery stretches from Newfoundland to North Carolina, covering a large spatial scale and has altered a significant amount of benthic ecosystems. As a result, the effect of fishing practises is ranked as “severe”.

Both US and Canadian and fisheries utilise scientific and independent stock assessments. Despite regularly seeking scientific advice, US management has historically failed to prevent overfishing. In contrast, the Canadian fishery has maintained steady production levels and conservation mortality targets. US management is ranked as “moderately effective” and Canadian management is ranked as “highly effective”.

Where is it caught? The scallop fishery in the mid-Atlantic is not well managed and the associated bycatch includes loggerhead turtles, a species listed as threatened by the Ecological Society of America (ESA).

Contaminant levels do not warrant a consumption advisory.