16 “THE GIANT SCALLOP FISHERY OF MAINE. 
BY HUGH M. SMITH. 
(With Plates cxii-cxvi.) 
A.— INTRODUCTION. 
The fishery for scallops on the coast of Maine is an industry of snch comparatively 
recent inception that the general fishery interests, except those directly concerned, 
are, as a rule, misinformed of its extent and character, or wholly ignorant of its exist- 
ence. Although the industry gives employment to several hundred persons; has 
considerable capital devoted to it ; yields large quantities of a highly esteemed and 
valuable food product; and is capable of great improvement and development, it ap- 
pears to have received little attention, and the first investigation of its nature and 
extent was undertaken by the U. S. Fish Commission in 1889. 
As an illustration of the paucity of information on the subject, the writer would 
quote a well-known authority on mollusks. Speaking of the scallop which is the object 
of the fishery in Maine, Winslow says : 
The species is not abundant nor of commercial importance. It is available for food, however, and 
is occasionally used as such.* 
This may be said to represent all that has been published on the giant scallop 
viewed from a commercial standpoint. At the time at which Winslow wrote, the fore- 
going statement was no doubt substantially correct. But conditions have changed ; 
and it is the province of this paper to show that in many localities the species is very 
abundant and of great and growing economic value; and the fishery is thought to be 
of sufficient magnitude and importance to warrant the detailed discussion which fol- 
lows. 
The writer is indebted to the following-named persons for valuable data based on 
original observations on scallops and the scallop fishery adjacent to their homes: 
Messrs. L. F. Gott, of Tremont; F. W. Luut, of West Treinout; W. W. A. Heath, of 
Seal Gove; S. D. Gray, of Gape Hosier; J. M. Vogell. of Oastine; and John E. Kelly, 
of North Boothbay. Acknowledgment of the courtesies extended by these gentle- 
men is hereby tendered. 
* London Fisheries Exhibition, 1883. Catalogue of the Economic Mollusca, by Lieut. Francis 
Winslow, U. S. Navy, Washington, 1883. 
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