Sustaining Sea Scallops

Photo by David Hills
Photo above by David Hills/FishyPictures.com
Photo by Daniel Cojanu
Photo by Daniel Cojanu
Scallop vessels wait at port in New Bedford. For the past 14 years, the Whaling City has ranked as the top fishing port in the nation, in terms of the value of landings brought into port. As a highly valued seafood, sea scallops are primarily responsible for this change in the city’s fortune.
Photo by Daniel Cojanu
At port in New Bedford, crews work on boat and gear maintenance between stints at sea. The classic "New Bedford-style" dredge has changed over the years to include turtle chains and a turtle-excluder device developed by the Coonamessett Farm Foundation.
Photo by Daniel Cojanu
A scallop dredge gets repaired at Reidar's Manufacturing, a fishing gear factory in New Bedford. In an effort to reduce bycatch, researchers and fishermen worked on innovations to the equipment: the rings increased to four inches to let small scallops out of the bag, the twine top (in blue) increased to 10 inches to let flounder escape, and the front of the dredge gained a "cowcatcher" to lift turtles and flounder out of harm’s way.