OF MASSACHUSETTS. 105 



The History and Development of the Scallop Industry. 



In considering the rise of a fishing industry, it is often difficult to 

 state exactly the year when the industry started, as there are differences 

 of opinion as to how large a fishery should become before it could be 

 justly considered an industry. The scallop fishery has existed for years, 

 but did not become an established industry of the Commonwealth before 

 the year 1872. At that time there was scarcely any demand for scallops 

 and the catch was marketed with difficulty. Since then the market for 

 the scallop has steadily increased, until the supply can hardly meet the 

 popular demand. 



It seems almost incredible that the scallop as an article of food 

 should once have been scorned and practically unknown. In former 

 years the majority of people looked upon the highly colored shellfish, 

 with its beautiful shell, as poisonous and unfit for the table, in the same 

 manner as our country fathers considered the " love apple," now the 

 tomato, as only an ornament for the garden. Popular taste and opinion 

 have changed, and the formerly despised scallop is now considered as an 

 important part of our sea food. What has been true with the scallop 

 applies equally well in regard to our future attitude towards sea food; 

 many species of fish and shellfish now considered as unwholesome will, 

 in the years to come, be considered as articles of food. 



In early colonial days the scallop* was frequently mentioned by the 

 writers of that period, possibly because the attractive appearance of 

 the fan-like shell rendered it a conspicuous object on the beaches, and 

 possibly because the scallop shell had been from the time of the Crusades 

 of emblematic significance. The first use of the scallop was as fertilizer. 

 When blown ashore in quantities, the farmers occasionally came with 

 their carts and carried the decaying shellfish to spread over their inland 

 farms. The next step in the popularization of the scallop was made by 

 the domestic animals, such as cats, dogs, pigs, etc., as the inhabitants 

 let the swine obtain their living from the flats and shellfish. No records 

 have been found by the writer to show that the Indians taught the 

 colonists the use of the scallop as an article of food, or that they were 

 conversant with its use for that purpose in England. So in all proba- 

 bility the edible qualities of this rnollusk gradually became known. 



Previous to 1874 the industry was of little importance as the scallops 

 were only gathered by hand or taken from the shallow water with dip 

 nets and rakes. This date marks the introduction of the dredge on Cape 

 Cod, which revolutionized the industry by opening new territory and 

 increasing the ease of capture in the deep water. From this time the 

 fishery steadily increased and the market correspondingly widened. 



In Buzzard's Bay the fishery first started at New Bedford in the 

 Acuslmet River in 1870, furnishing between 1870 and 1879 a winter 

 living for 15 men. From this locality the fishery spread rapidly in 1879 



