Island fishermen harvested around 2,500 fewer bushels this year, though local scallopers and fishmongers say it wasn’t all bad news for the fishery, as a lower harvest on- and off-Island prevented the precipitous drop in scallop prices that occurred last year.

As the harvesting season for bay scallops gets underway, Island fishermen and shellfish wholesalers are readying themselves for their annual gamble in a fishery with a reputation for uncertainty.

A bay scallop farming study is one of several projects in Dukes County funded by new state grants, aimed at bolstering the local shellfish industry in a time of climate change.

It has been a bountiful season for the Vineyard’s bay scallop fishery, but scallopers struggled to capitalize due to an atrophied market.

Local researchers are keeping a close watch on a parasite that has infected and decimated New York's bay scallop population.

Commercial bay scalloping and oyster seasons will be extended in Edgartown following a vote by the town select board Monday. Both will run until May 1.

In late winter, as the cold winds blow, the Edgartown Harbor is a quiet place, mostly populated by gulls, the Chappy ferry making its appointed rounds, and the occasional scalloper or oysterman.

Bay scallop season has arrived, and while most of the Island is reporting an average or down year on the ponds, there is cautious excitement in Tisbury.

Following the discovery of small patches of bay scallops in Katama Bay and the outer harbor, Edgartown selectmen voted on Monday to extend the scallop season until April 19.

The Vineyard Haven side of Lagoon Pond will be closed to all bay scalloping beginning Monday, Nov. 5., to protect a large crop of juvenile scallops, the town shellfish constable said Wednesday morning.