Seven fishermen and lobstermen volunteered in August to help the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance start a project to restore scallop stocks using methods that were first successful in Japan and Canada. The alliance used the method successfully in Stonington, but nobody knew the exact time of the year that scallops in Saco Bay would release their spat, so it was unclear if the program would work. But we have baby scallops. A number of the bags hauled up recently contained baby scallops up to a quarter-inch in diameter. Once the spat grow large enough, the volunteers will take all 720 bags and release the young scallops into existing scallop beds, Morin said.
Scallops can swim, but tend to remain in the same area throughout their lives.
With its initial success, the alliance is raising funds in an effort to expand the project to monitor the existing beds of scallops throughout the bay. Morin has contacted Michael Day about using his remote-controlled underwater camera to get a detailed look at existing beds and to monitor them in years to come to see if they're growing.