Home En FrancaisLoginSite MapContact UsDonate SeaWeb.org
About UsMembershipSmart ChoicesResourcesNewsroom



Scallops, Bay & Sea

Pacific Scallops

©B.Guild/ Charting Nature, www.chartingnature.com

COMMON NAMES

  • Bay

    • Bay scallop
    • Cape scallop
    • Cape Cod scallop
    • China bay scallop

    Sea

    • Scallop
    • Sea scallop

SKATE OR SCALLOP?

There are reports that skate wings are sold as scallops, with cookie-cutter devices used to remove scallop-shaped pieces of flesh. Skates are frequent victims of bycatch in trawl fisheries, and like the practice of shark finning, wing removal ensures that the animal cannot be returned to the ocean in a survivable condition. Like sharks, skates live long and grow slowly, making them vulnerable to overfishing, so additional fishing pressure for imitation scallops should be avoided.

KIDSAFE

The KidSafe Seafood program recommends bay scallops. It is sufficiently low in mercury and PCBs to be safe for children age three and up to eat at least once a week.

HEALTH ADVISORY

Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is caused by eating bivalve shellfish contaminated with algae containing harmful toxins. The toxin that causes PSP cannot be destroyed by cooking or freezing. Ask your supplier about routine testing of products.

Usually labeled as either bay or sea scallops, there are actually a number of scallop species available on the U.S. market. True bay scallops (Argopecten irradians) from New England remain in very short supply; about eight MT (17,000 pounds) of wild bay scallop meat was landed in 2004, compared to landings (U.S. only) in excess of 29,000 MT (64 million pounds) for sea scallops.

Bay scallops: The vast majority of A. irradians consumed in the U.S. are farmed in China where the true bay scallop was introduced in the late 1980’s. Smaller scallops are often marketed as bay scallops, a practice that allows producers to cash in on the cachet of the true bay scallop – a sweet, nutty-tasting scallop that is produced in very limited quantities in New England and is always sold fresh.

Sea scallops: Most sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) sold in the U.S. are wild-caught by boats that use dredges. The largest single fishery for sea scallops is in the northeast Atlantic from Canada to Virginia. Cultured sea scallops (Argopecten purpuratus) from Chile and Peru are also entering the U.S. market.

Other available species: Off Alaska, fishermen dredge for the weathervane scallop (Patinopecten caurinus), a sea scallop with annual catches of about 2,200 to 4,500 MT (five to ten million pounds). A lesser-known small scallop, the calico scallop (Argopecten gibbus), is caught in very limited quantities in the southeastern U.S. and is even smaller than the bay scallop. Calico scallop populations have almost collapsed from fishing pressure, however, and dredging for calicos has disrupted extensive amounts of seafloor habitat.

CONSERVATION NOTES

Wild sea scallops are dredged primarily off cobbled and sandy seafloors, leveling structural habitat and dragging up large amounts of other bottom-dwelling species such as monkfish and cod. The northeast U.S. and Canadian population is healthy and appears to be increasing; however, the mid-Atlantic population is overfished and scallops from this fishery should be avoided.

Atlantic calico scallops are currently overfished and are caught by dredges that damage fragile seabed habitats. Atlantic calicos are often sold as bay scallops; check the label to be sure they are indeed the more numerous bay scallops.

Scallops farmed on suspended lines have the least environmental impact. Scallops farmed on the seafloor, however, are often vacuum-dredged—a process that greatly disrupts the seabed and kills or injures associated bottom-dwelling organisms. In addition, the ecological impact of introducing non-native scallops, such as bay scallops farmed in China, has not been adequately studied.

IN SEASON

  • Sea scallops: Available year-round, peaking from late spring to early fall
  • Bay scallops: October through May, peaking in the fall

PRODUCT FORM

FRESH:

  • Whole adductor muscle

FROZEN:

  • Whole adductor muscle
  • Half shell with attached roe (coral)

BUYING TIPS

  • Judging by the number of menus offering diver scallops, one would think thousands of individuals catch sea scallops by hand, yet less than 45 MT (100,000 pounds live weight) of diver-caught scallops were caught in 2002.
  • The term “diver scallop” is often used to identify a scallop that has not been treated with sodium tripolyphosphate (also referred to as dry scallop). Scallops treated with phosphates absorb and hold more water, often 20 percent or more. As a result, phosphate abuse has long been a characteristic of the scallop business, where even dry scallops may be given a quick wash in tripolyphosphate.
  • Avoid buying sea scallops in late spring, after they have spawned. Spawning causes the adductor muscle to soften, become discolored, and easily shed moisture.