The Vineyard’s commercial scallopers celebrated a banner year this winter, with some fishermen reporting they harvested the meatiest bay scallops they have seen in decades.
Multiple towns extended their seasons because the fishing was so strong, and Island fishermen hauled in more than 64,000 pounds of bay scallops between October and December. Scallopers, shellfish officials and seafood sellers said the crop was bountiful, making it easy for Islanders to hit their daily catch limits.
“The season was more relaxing,” said David Berube, who scallops in Edgartown. “You could kind of count on getting your limit without too much effort.”
An unexpected bright spot for the season was in the Island’s smallest town. Though fishing largely takes place in Edgartown, Aquinnah had one of its largest harvests in recent memory.
Brian “Chip” Vanderhoop, the town’s shellfish warden, said he hadn’t seen a season this good in over 30 years and the small town pulled-in roughly 1,400 bushels.
“When everybody saw the size of the meats, their eyes were bugging out,” Mr. Vanderhoop said.
He said the town’s efforts to remove codium, an invasive grass, could have contributed to this year’s success. Residents removed 500 to 600 totes of the grass over the past two years and were encouraged by a $20 per tote bounty the town and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) Natural Resources Department put in place.
“I think that saved our season,” Mr. Vanderhoop said.
Danielle Ewart, shellfish constable in Tisbury, said the Tisbury fleet has also seen an increase in bushels, as well, topping out at 217 bushels.
“In the previous few years we haven’t seen huge populations of bay scallops, so it was kind of refreshing to see that people were happy,” Ms. Ewart said.
In Chilmark, shellfish constable Isaiah Scheffer said the total haul wasn’t as prosperous. While other towns extended their season through April, by January there weren’t enough scallops left to harvest in Chilmark.
Mr. Scheffer said that Chilmark scallopers brought in about 200 bushels and overall consider the season a success.
“That particular time of year was the best price and then the price seemed to drop after January,” Mr. Scheffer said. “All-in-all it was pretty successful for the few people that went.”
But while the harvest was strong around the Island, concerns still linger about a parasite that has affected some of the Vineyard’s catch.
Mr. Scheffer said that with the amount of seed the town had, he was expecting the town to bring-in more scallops, perhaps even as much as 500 bushels. But some fishermen had to throw out some of their catch because a kidney parasite called coccidia created a small black spot on the adductor muscle of infected scallops.
“In one area I would say 10 per cent of them had the tell-tale dark spots in the adductor muscle,” Mr. Scheffer said. “And of course, those aren’t sellable. Once they get that, fishermen have to throw them away. You can’t bring that to a market and expect people to buy it.”
Emma Green-Beach, the executive director and biologist of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, said there are many unknowns with the parasite infections on-Island. But she stressed that it is safe for humans to ingest.
The parasite first showed-up nearby in New York’s Peconic Bay and decimated that region’s scallops in 2019. Ms. Green-Beach said it’s unknown when the parasite first came to the Vineyard.
“We don’t know exactly the impact that this kidney parasite is having on our scallop population,” Ms. Green-Beach said. “We now know that we have it and we have a lot of it.”
The Shellfish Group has been working with Stony Brook University to study the infected Vineyard bay scallops. While the parasite has been destructive to other areas, Ms. Green-Beach said the infected Vineyard scallops are surviving.
“It seems that even though our scallops had a lot of parasite, they weren’t dying at a terribly high rate,” Ms. Green-Beach said.
Edgartown shellfish constable Rob Morrison said the parasite is found across the Island, but Edgartown scallopers were still able to fish the whole season.
Mr. Morrison said the town extended its bay scallop fishing by six weeks to take full advantage of the fruitful crop. In all, Edgartown scallopers brought in 10,169 bushels.
“The last day people were catching limits,” Mr. Morrison said. “On a typical season, you’ll see scalloping get more difficult for fishermen as the resource gets caught.”
The bountiful harvest did result in a decrease in bay scallop prices.
Stanley Larsen, the owner of Menemsha Fish Market, said he had the lowest price he’s set in 10 years due to amount of scallops coming in. Though the price fluctuated throughout the year, Mr. Larsen said it dipped to $14 per pound after New Year’s.
Years of high prices may have taken a toll on consumers, and could be contributing to a new issue of dwindling demand among customers.
Mr. Larsen said people aren’t buying bay scallops as frequently as they used to.
“When they got so expensive, it turns a lot of people off,” Mr. Larsen said.
Mike Holtham, the general manager of Net Result seafood market in Vineyard Haven, also noticed demand for bay scallops decrease in recent years.
“I don’t know if they lost their luster or what.” Mr. Holtham said. “When I was growing up, everyone anticipated the bay scallop season. They were excited to go put them on the menu.”
Ms. Green-Beach said she’s noticed that bay scallops are disappearing from local restaurant menus. She said bay scallops are a treasure to the Island and when people eat from the ponds, they’re more connected to the Vineyard’s heritage.
“I worry that people are forgetting about bay scallops,” she said. “They’re such a local delicacy that people other places don’t get.”
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