March 31, 2015 — Snow still lay deep on the ground and waist-high banks lined the road, but for the first time in weeks, the forecast called for mild temperatures and light winds. It was an ideal day to join James West and his crew for a day of scalloping aboard his dragger, First Impression.
It was still pitch dark as a blunt-bowed outboard skiff ghosted out of the fog and nosed up to the ice-slicked Sorrento Harbor boat ramp an early Wednesday morning two weeks ago.
Snow still lay deep on the ground and waist-high banks lined the road, but for the first time in weeks, the forecast called for mild temperatures and light winds. It was an ideal day to join James West and his crew for a day of scalloping aboard his dragger, First Impression.
His 50th birthday not too long behind him, West has been a fisherman most of his life. He has gone lobstering, chased groundfish such as cod, haddock and flounder when there were any to be had, gone trawling for shrimp until the fishery closed two years ago, and has even leased a site in Frenchman Bay to try his hand at growing mussels and seaweed.
What West really enjoys, though, is running a dragger. Last week, with about a month left in the season, West had the 40-foot First Impression rigged to go dragging for scallops. He took two crew – his son, James R., or “Little James,” and Sorrento fisherman Jamie Bartow – to help handle the gear and shuck the tasty bivalves that, this winter, have brought fishermen an excellent price.
According to the Department of Marine Resources, the boat price for scallops has averaged around $13 per pound. The large scallops (the “U10s,” that is, 10 scallops or fewer to the pound) that West is happiest to land can bring as much as $14.50. Last winter, the average price was around $12.78 per pound, according to the most recent figures published by the DMR.
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