February 13, 2019 — Dozens of people visited the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences for one of their Science Saturdays events. This one focused on commercial fishing at Viking Village and it’s thriving scallop industry.
“It is the most healthiest fishery that we have. There’s never been so many scallops off the East Coast ever because of the way they farmed it,” said Karter Larson, assistant manager of Viking Village. “Closed area, open bottom, closed area kind of thing – sort of like farming when you don’t use the land that year.”
There are about 10 scallop boats at Viking Village, Larson says. The scallopers are only allowed to fish a set number of days throughout the year starting in March.
“It’s rough. It’s a rough life, but they bring food to your table, and it’s better than importing from other countries,” Larson said.
NOAA Fisheries indicates New Jersey scallop landings generated more than $123 million in revenue in 2016.
According to Chef John Grifo, the secret to delicious seafood is to make sure not to overcook it.
“Especially with scallops, you want to get a nice, hot pan and get a good sear. When you sear the scallops, what it does is it brings out, caramelizes the sugar in them,” he said.
Visitors had a chance to watch Grifo prepare the Viking Village scallops.
“They’re going to have a lot of amazing flavors in their mouth, you know, because they’re going to have sweet, a little heat, they’re going to have the crunch of the candied bacon,” Grifo said.