Long-Running Sea Scallop Survey Diversifies for the Future
April 7, 2025 | 1 min to read
The sea scallop survey, initiated in 1979, has successfully monitored the population recovery of this valuable fishery. Originally conducted with just one vessel, the survey now employs multiple vessels and advanced methods, including dredges and optical instruments, in collaboration with the scallop industry. This enhanced capacity ensures continuous data flow for effective stock assessments and quota setting, contributing to the sustainable management of the nation’s top single-species fishery. Visit NOAA Fisheries for more information.
Using more vessels and more sampling to ensure data keeps coming for a top U.S. fishery.
Our sea scallop survey has been providing data on population status since 1979. Over that time, the stock has recovered from very low levels to a population large enough to support one of the nation’s most valuable single-species fisheries. The status of the population isn’t the only thing that’s changed. Increasingly sophisticated ways to track sea scallop populations have come along. We have adapted and diversified our survey methods to take advantage of them.
Adding Survey Capacity
While we started with one vessel surveying the entire area with a dredge. The area is now divided among our science center and several partners, including the sea scallop industry. They use both dredges and optical (photographic) instruments deployed from research and commercial scallop vessels. All these data are used for stock assessments and for quota setting.
To learn more, please visit NOAA Fisheries.