been relatively small and variable, and do not neces- 

 sarily reflect catches by vessels based in those states. For 

 example, in 1962 most scallop draggers from New Jersey 

 landed their catch in New York (LoVerde 1963). The 

 sharp increase in New Jersey in 1965 (Fig. 37, Table 41) 

 came mostly from catches off Cape Henry, Va. (LoVerde 

 1966). New Jersey draggers returned to waters off Vir- 

 ginia in 1966 but abundance had dropped substantially. 

 As in the surf clam fishery, when abundance declined on 

 traditional grounds the fleets ranged farther from their 

 home ports in search of new grounds. It probably was in- 

 evitable that sea scallop landings in New Jersey would 

 decline (Fig. 37) soon after the New England scallop catch 

 dropped from a combination of heavy fishing and poor 

 spawning success. 



Canada is the only other country which harvests 

 scallops off the United States coast. The Canadian 

 fishery on Georges Bank began with the advent of the 

 strong 1959 year class. Canadian interests built a new 

 fleet to work on Georges Bank. When scallop stocks 

 declined there they extended their area of operations to 

 the southward where they were competing with 

 scallopers from New York and New Jersey. 



Table 41. — Estimated commercial catches of Atlantic sea scallop 

 iii the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United states 

 coast 1960-1975. Weights of meats in metric tons. 



The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did 

 not include recreational catches of invertebrates. 



Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. 



For simplicity the ICNAF statistics, given in live weights (in 

 parentheses) have been reduced to weights of meats by dividing by 

 8.3, rather than showing live weights for dcntestic catches also. 



Domestic figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable 

 landings in H.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years. 



- An unreported catch is probable. 



Atlantic Bay Scallop 



Argopecten irradians (Lamarck), bay scallop, has been 

 esteemed as a delicacy along the Atlantic coast for a very 

 long time. It lives in shallow protected waters and at 



some stages of its life history is often assocated in- 

 timately with eelgrass (Zostera). Most Zostera beds 

 along the Atlantic coast were reduced or eliminated in 

 1931-32 by disease and the concurrent sharp decline of 

 the bay scallop fishery has been attributed to destruc- 

 tion of eelgrass beds. Marshall (1947), however, noted 

 abundant scallop populations in the absence of eelgrass. 

 Merrill and Tubiash (1970) reported that a major factor 

 in decline of bay scallop landings after 1935 was the "ex- 

 plosive expansion" of the sea scallop industry. The ef- 

 fect shows very clearly in the record of bay scallop land- 

 ings in New York State (McHugh 1972a, fig. 11). In 

 New Jersey commercial landings of bay and sea scallops 

 were lumped until 1937 (Fig. 37). Some bay scallop may 

 have been included in the earlier records, but from 1937 

 to 1955 inclusive apparently no catches were made. 

 Small and variable catches have been reported for most 

 years from 1951 to 1973 inclusive (Table 42). The poten- 

 tial for bay scallop production apparently is much less in 

 New Jersey than in New York. In the recent period of 

 abundance maximum reported landings were 171 metric 

 tons in 1964 in New Jersey and 449 metric tons in 1962 in 

 New York. 



Because it lives its entire life history in shallow waters, 

 bay scallop is subject to rigorous environmental con- 

 ditions and it is hardly surprising that it is extremely 

 variable in abundance. But, because its life span is not 

 much longer than 1 yr, management strategy is relatively 

 simple. It is necessary only to protect the young until 

 they have a chance to spawn, then permit unlimited har- 

 vesting. This should achieve the maximum sustainable 

 yield, but it will be a highly variable yield over which 

 man cannot have much further control under natural en- 



Table 42 , --Estimated comnercial landings of Atlantic bay 

 scallop in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the 

 United States coast 1960-1975. weights of meats in 

 metric tons . 



The national aaltwatet anglinq surveys for 1960, 1965, and 

 1970 did not include recreational catches of invertebrates. 



in parentheses for comparability with 

 - An unreported catch is possible. 



Live weights are gi 

 ICNAF statistics. 



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