April 1, 2025 — Nantucket scallopers will have an extra 11 days to rake in bay scallops thanks to the state Division of Marine Fisheries OKing an extension of the season requested by the Select Board last month.
Both recreational and commercial scalloping season were set to end Monday but state environmental officials granted an extension to April 11 because there are plenty of scallops left in the harbor that will likely die before next year if not caught, Division of Marine Fisheries director Daniel McKiernan wrote in a letter to the Select Board Friday.
The state conducted a bay scallop resource investigation of Nantucket Harbor last week and determined that, “in proportion to immature seed bay scallops there is an abundance of adult bay scallops that will not be harvested prior to the termination of the normal bay scallop season,” McKiernan wrote. “It is believed that most of these adult scallops are unlikely to live long enough to spawn again this coming summer.”
“These adult scallops need to be fished and the fishermen really deserve to have these extra days. And I’m sure the general public will enjoy having fresh scallops available to them for a little bit longer,” Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board chair Andy Lowell said last month when asking the Select Board to petition the state for the extension.
He noted at that time that there were plenty of scallops and not many fishermen catching them.