The Republican journal., 1916-12-21
The Giant Scallop.
The Maine Industry Severely Hurt.


ORoNo, Me-, Dec. 20, 1916. The giant
scallop is another species and differs
greatly from the Cape Cod or Sound
scallop. A number of years ago the life
history and morphology of this ancient
mollusk was worked out by DR.. Drew, at
that time Biologist to the Maine Agri-
cultural Experiment Station. For this
reason it was very natural that when
the fishermen found the first of Novem-
Der, at the end of "close time, that the
beds contained mostly empty shells and
that this industry, worth annually to the
fishermen near Rockland over 500, 600,
was to be failure for 1916, that they
should apply to the University for as
slstance. At the present time no one
connected with the Station has special
knowledge of scallop fishing. 1t nap
pened that the writer was to be in
Washington on other business early in
November and he took advantage OF this
opportunity to go over the situation at
length with the United States Bureau of
Fisheries. This Maine trouble received
sympathetic attention and they detailed
two men-one of them an expert in
mollusk fisheries-to make an lnvestiga-
ton. The following is from the report
of this expert to the United States Com
missioner of Fisheries:
In the course of the investigation "a
drags were made with the ordinary seal
lop dredge such as is regularly used by
the fishing boats. Over two thousand
live scalops were examined and many
times this number of shells. The beds
which were investigated we're located in
West Penobscot Bay, East Penobscot
Bay, Eggemoggin Reach and Blue Hill
Bay.
The mortality was present throughout
the entire region investigated, but was
greatest in West Penobscot Bay, where
at present the beds are practically ruined
for remunerative fishing. Last year
Blue Hill Bay was similarly devastated,
but on the authority of the fishermen
who operated the dredges the sample
drags which were made there in this
investigation indicated a slight increase
in the number of scaliops over the condi-
lions at the close of last year.
The mortality was not confined to re-
cent occurrence but had taken place over
a period of several months previous to
the investigation. Fully one-third of
the empty shells which remained hinged
together (which for convenience are
herein designated as "clappers") had
growths of sponges, hydroids, barnacles,
ETC., between the shells and the general
appearance of the shells and the break
ing down of the ligament of many of
them indicated that some time has
elapsed since the death of the scallop.
The size of the "clappers" ranged
from 2 "A inches to Ia inches in length
and the more abundant sizes, while it
varied somewhat in different beds, was
either identical or slightly below the
size of the more abundant living seal
OBS which were tax en-. This would re-
flute the idea that the mortality might
have been caused by natural limit of
life as occurs in the Cape Cod scallops-
and would further indicate that the cause
operated upon whatever size of scallops
was present.
There were no perforations in the
shells, although pits and grooves caused
by boring sponges, ETC., were frequently
present, as were also observed in the liv-
ing scallops. This would eliminate drills
and other boring enemies.
The death did not occur in all probable
ity from unfavorable conditions of the
environment-disea freshets, lack OF
food, etc.-because the interior of the
shells was not discolored as would have
occurred had the scallops died in stu
from these causes. In "clappers" show
ing very recent death, az indicated by