October 19, 2015 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Maine fishery regulators are set to make a ruling on a plan to cut back the number of scallop fishing days.
The proposal would cut back the number of scallop fishing days in southern scalloping zone from 70 to 60.
The state advisory council charged with ruling on the proposal is scheduled to do so on Tuesday.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at News Radio WGAN
October 10, 2015 — Filter-feeding bivalve molluscs, such as mussels, oysters, scallops and clams, are a useful and tasty source of protein. They can, though, also be harbingers of illness. A filter-feeder lives, as the name suggests, by trapping and consuming particles (mostly bacteria and single-celled algae) suspended in water it pumps through its body. If those particles are themselves toxic, they can seriously discomfort, and occasionally kill, a human who eats a mollusc that has been feeding on them.
The most common culprits are algae called dinoflagellates and diatoms, several species of which make potent toxins. These algae often multiply into spectacular blooms along coastlines. Even in the absence of such a bloom, though, they can be abundant enough to cause problems. For this reason, in most places in the rich world at least, bivalves intended for sale have to be tested before they go to market. That involves taking samples to a laboratory, which is cumbersome and time-consuming. What is needed is a simple test that can be carried out on-board a ship. And Waqass Jawaid, of Queen’s University in Belfast, thinks he has one.
One way of screening shellfish is pretty crude. This is to inject a mouse with a sample and see if it gets ill— a procedure no longer used in Europe, but still permitted in parts of America. The alternative, a mix of chromatography and mass spectrometry, is more sensitive, but requires expensive equipment and trained staff. Dr Jawaid’s method, which he and his colleagues report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, employs antibodies to create a system similar to a pregnancy test.
Read the full story at The Economist
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — October 2, 2015 — A plan to place new restrictions on Maine’s scalloping industry is the right way to ensure that the fishery keeps rebuilding, some fishermen say.
Maine’s meaty scallops, which are harvested by drag boats and cold-water divers, are prized in restaurants and fish markets. Their value per pound surged to an all-time high last year, frequently topping $20 – several dollars more than other scallops.
The fishery is also on the mend, as fishermen caught nearly 4.9 million pounds of the scallops last year, up from less than 700,000 pounds five years earlier. Catches sometimes topped 10 million pounds in the 1990s.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald
September 28, 2015 — Maine fishery regulators are collecting the final public comments about a plan to cut back the number of scallop fishing days.
The proposal would cut back the number of scallop fishing days in the southern scalloping zone from 70 to 60 days. The state held a series of public hearings on the proposal and is accepting comments until Sunday.
The proposal says the upcoming scallop fishing season would begin in early December and end in mid-April.
Read the full story from the Associated Press here
September 24, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Do you know how to properly cook and eat a lobster, or how to fillet a fish?
Perhaps you’d like to watch some of New Bedford’s most handsome fishermen model the latest in fishing gear, listen to some sea chanteys, cheer for your favorite in a nautical tattoo contest, or tour a scallop boat.
These are just a few of the many fun-filled and fascinating activities the 12th annual Working Waterfront Festival will offer guests of all ages as they explore the rich cultural history and get an inside look at the city’s dynamic fishing industry and bustling waterfront.
According to Laura Orleans, festival director, this year’s theme, “Every Object Tells a Story,” will be interpreted in various ways, including several skills demonstrations and a new area at the entrance to Steamship Pier where large industry objects, including a full-sized groundfishing net, will be displayed.
“The Working Waterfront Festival provides a rare opportunity for the public to get an inside look at the commercial fishing industry which not only generates over a billion dollars for our local economy each year, but is also a huge part of our culture and history,” Orleans continues.
Orleans says that this year’s festival is “a great mix of old favorites” such as the scallop shucking contest and seafood cooking throwdown, as well as new activities such as the fishing gear fashion show and nautical tattoo contest.
Read the full story at New Bedford Standard-Times
September 18, 2015 — FALMOUTH, Mass. — Yellow school buses weren’t the only ones on the road Friday afternoon, as tour groups from throughout Massachusetts and neighboring states rolled their way to the 46th annual Scallop Fest.
About 50,000 people were expected to descend upon the Cape Cod Fairgrounds to enjoy 6,000 pounds of deep-fried scallops Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, said Marie Oliva, the CEO and president of the Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber of Commerce.
The Scallop Fest, which has been named one of the Top 100 bus tours in the United States five times by the American Bus Association, had 48 scheduled bus groups for the weekend, Oliva added.
Early Friday afternoon, about a half dozen large tour buses were parked just outside the festival, along with a handful of smaller ones. Most of the attendees were senior citizen groups.
Denise Paquette has been driving buses for 21 years. During her early driving days she would bring her camera for sightseeing. Now, the festival veteran, who estimates she’s been to Scallop Fest about 17 times, says she’s seen everything, and doesn’t need her camera.
Read the full story at Cape Cod Times
September 15, 2015 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Maine fishery regulators are preparing to hold a series of public hearings about a plan to cut back the number of scallop fishing days in the coming season a hearing on a plan to close an area to sea urchin fishing so they can gauge a project that would transplant the creatures..
The scallop proposal would cut back the number of fishing days in the southern scalloping zone from 70 to 60 days. The scallop hearings will be held on Tuesday in Augusta, on Wednesday in Ellsworth and on Thursday in Machias.
The Midcoast and eastern Maine zone would have 70 days, the same as last year. The far eastern zone, which includes scallop-rich Cobscook Bay, would remain at 50 days.
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald
September 6, 2015 — The Port of New Bedford is not only home to the vastly profitable scallop industry, making it the No. 1 value fishing port in the nation, it is also the No. 2 commercial port in Massachusetts, after Boston.
Commercial and recreational activity in the port has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, with an occasional setback. Plans for a waterfront casino fell through this year when the developer could not find financing. The state-funded development of a $100 million-plus maritime shipping terminal in the South End wound up without its major client when the Cape Wind offshore wind energy project was abandoned.
Even at that, there is activity everywhere. This summer has seen a large increase in the number of recreational boaters who have decided to dock in New Bedford. Some of that is a reflection of the good publicity that the port received when the Boston 2024 Olympic Committee, now disbanded, chose New Bedford to be the home of the sailing competition in those games.
Shipping is also increasing. Cargo ships carrying clementines from Morocco or Spain have sharply increased their number of arrivals at State Pier in the last couple of years. Plans are in place to refrigerate the State Pier storage facility so clementines can be shipped through the port during warm weather, which they cannot do at present.
September 8, 2015 — The Department of Marine Resources is proposing new rules to set the regulations and harvest season for the 2015-2016 scallop season and set rules and establish a closed area for the coming sea urchin fishery. Three public hearings are scheduled on the scallop regulations and one hearing is scheduled for the sea urchin rules.
For the 2015-2016 scallop fishing season, as in the past 2014-2015 season, there would be a statewide 15-gallon daily possession limit for scallop meats except in Cobscook Bay, where the limit would remain at 10 gallons for Zone 3.
In western Maine waters, known as Zone 1, draggers would have a 60-day season starting Dec. 15 and ending April 11, 2016. For divers, the 60-day season would start Dec. 1 and end April 15.
In Zone 2, essentially from Penobscot Bay east to Cobscook Bay, draggers would have a 70-day season starting Dec. 1 and ending April 13. For Zone 2 divers, the 70-day season would start Dec. 1 and end April 15.
Last winter, the season was 70 days in both zones, but the concerns for the scarcity of scallops throughout Zone 1 led the department and the Scallop Advisory Council to recommend a shorter season this year.
August 26, 2015 — People are jumping into the waters north of here and hauling out scallops by the thousands this time of year, but the environmental group Tampa Bay Watch is rejoicing at a far smaller found number closer to home — just 233 of them.
It was a scientific undertaking by selected volunteers off Boca Ciega and Fort DeSoto that turned up the local scallops Saturday, rather than hungry snorkelers looking for their next meal from the Pasco-Hernando county line north during the Gulf harvest that runs through Sept. 24.
But 233 is nearly double the 112 found in local waters during last year’s Great Bay Scallop Search and represents an upward trend line that has local scallop watchers celebrating. Just five were counted in 2011.
Both Tampa Bay Watch and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission describe scallop populations as an indicator of water quality because of the shellfish’s sensitivity to pollution and their ability to filter and clean the water of nuisance species like phytoplankton.
Scallop numbers can be an indicator that something’s going on at a bigger level, and extreme changes mean the local population might collapse, said Sarah Stephenson, a scientist at the state’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.
Read the full story at The Suncoast News