or deep-fried (Miller).'" The viscera, now usu- 

 ally discarded, can be used for animal feeds, 

 and the shells in poultry feed and as a filler in 

 concrete products (Bullis and Love, 1961). In 

 addition, the shells have been used for oyster 

 cultch. 



The possibility exists that the resource may 

 be adversely affected if large quantities of scal- 

 lop shell, a natural cultch for scallop spat (see 

 section on Environment) , are removed from the 

 scallop grounds by the fishery. 



lops were machine-processed in shore-based 

 plants located at Williston, Beaufort, and Salter 

 Path, N.C. In 1970, two factory-type scallop 

 vessels worked the North Carolina beds. 



In North Carolina waters, the supply of calico 

 scallops fluctuates widely between years. No 

 scallops were available in 1962, 1963, and 1964; 

 but overall production increased greatly in 1966 

 and 1967. Again, no scallops were available in 

 1968 and 1969 but in 1970 scallops became avail- 

 able and production was resumed. 



North Carolina 



Calico scallops have long been known from the 

 vicinity of Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout in 

 depths over 19 m. In April 1949, abundant 

 quantities of calico scallops were located in 19 m 

 southwest of Cape Lookout by the Institute of 

 Fisheries Research of the University of North 

 Carolina. The small size of the scallops and lack 

 of information on distribution and abundance 

 delayed development of a fishery in this area 

 (Chestnut, 1951). 



According to Cummins (1971) , the North Car- 

 olina fishery began in 1959, following explora- 

 tions by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 (now the National Marine Fisheries Service). 

 The results of exploratory scalloping, and a de- 

 scription of a scallop concentration oflp Cape 

 Lookout in 31 to 37 m were given by Cummins, 

 Rivers, and Struhsaker (1962). 



The North Carolina fishery was described by 

 Cummins ( 1971 ) . The principal scallop grounds 

 are located northeast and southwest of Cape 

 Lookout in 19 to 37 m (Cummins, Rivers, and 

 Struhsaker, 1962; Porter and Wolfe, in press). 

 The scallops were first caught with scallop dredg- 

 es which were soon replaced with scallop trawls 

 that function better than dredges on the hard 

 sand of North Carolina beds (Rivers, 1962a). 

 Although these trawls can catch up to 60 bu of 

 shell stock per 5-min drag, average catch-per- 

 boat-per-day is 400 to 600 bu (Cummins, 1971). 

 The scallops are deck-loaded and landed the same 

 day in the shell. They were all hand-shucked 

 in the fishing communities near Cape Lookout 

 until recently when increasing numbers of scal- 



" George C. Miller, Zoologist, National Marine Fish- 

 eries Service, Southeast Fisheries Center, Miami Lab- 

 oratory, Miami, Fla. Personal communication, 1970. 



Florida East Coast 



Large quantities of calico scallops were discov- 

 ered by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries off 

 Daytona Beach, Fla., in January 1960 (Taylor, 

 1967). Subsequent explorations by the Bureau 

 showed that the area of commercial abundance 

 extended from the St. Johns River south to Ft. 

 Pierce in 19 to 74 m of water (Cummins, 1971). 

 Explorations from 1960 to 1968 showed variable 

 areas of greatest concentration, all between 28 

 and 65 m (Bullis and Cummins, 1961; Drum- 

 mond, 1969; Roe, Cummins, and Bullis, 1971). 

 In this area, catch rates and meat yields are high- 

 est from September to December (Roe, Cum- 

 mins, and Bullis, 1971). 



The types of vessels used to catch scallops on 

 the Cape Kennedy grounds have included shrimp 

 trawlers. New England scallopers, Chesapeake 

 Bay dredgers, and factory-type scallopers (Cum- 

 mins and Rivers, 1970; Cummins, 1971). The 

 scallops are caught with dredges and trawls. Al- 

 though Rivers (1962b) reported that "dredges 

 generally outfish the trawls" on the softer bot- 

 toms of the Cape Kennedy grounds, it was 

 learned from more recent trials that "the North 

 Carolina type scallop trawl is an excellent device 

 for catching scallops on the Florida grounds, 

 and that catch rates exceed those of smaller 

 dredges" (Commercial Fisheries Review, 1967). 

 The tumbler dredge is superior to the Georges 

 Bank dredge when used on the Cape Kennedy 

 beds (Bullis and Cummins, 1961). 



An indication of catch rates and production 

 on the Cape Kennedy grounds may be obtained 

 from the following observations. A New Eng- 

 land scalloper with a single 2.4-m (8-ft) tumbler 

 dredge made catches ranging from 735 to 1,500 

 bu of scallops per 24-hr period (Cummins, 1971). 

 Factory scallopers processed a maximum of 



15 



