Tag Archives: booming scallop business

UMass Dartmouth plays integral part in booming scallop business

smastOur beloved scallop, the biggest and best in the world, is right off our coast, waiting to make our lives better. The scallop — or placopecten magellanicus — keeps New Bedford the most profitable fishing port in the United States. Those riches wash all over southeastern Massachusetts. Scallops grow on the sandy bottom of Georges Bank, a rise in the sea floor that runs from Maine to New Jersey. The bank starts 20 miles offshore and runs 200 miles out in the ocean. There was a moratorium on fishing for several species, including scallops, after stocks plummeted on Georges Bank in the late 1990s. By 2000, fishermen believed scallops had made a comeback, so they enlisted UMass Dartmouth for help. READ [email protected]  02:13