page_title: Scallop aquaculture
section_title: Established commercial operations
hierarchical_section_title: Scallop aquaculture / Cultured species / Established commercial operations
context_page_description: Scallop aquaculture is the commercial activity of cultivating scallops until they reach a marketable size and can be sold as a consumer product. Wild juvenile scallops, or spat, were collected for growing in Japan as early as 1934. The first attempts to fully cultivate scallops in farm environments were not recorded until the 1950s and 1960s. Traditionally, fishing for wild scallops has been the preferred practice, since farming can be expensive. However worldwide declines in wild scallop populations have resulted in the growth of aquaculture. Globally the scallop aquaculture industry is now well established, with a reported annual production totalling over 1,200,000 metric tonnes from about 12 species. China and Japan account for about 90% of the reported production.
context_section_description: Aequipecten opercularis (United Kingdom, northern France and Spain, Norway)
  Argopecten irradians (China)
  Sub species A. irradians irradians (eastern USA)
  Sub species A. irradians concentricus (eastern USA)
  Argopecten purpuratus (Chile)
  Chlamys farreri (China)
  Chlamys islandica (eastern USA)
  Chlamys nobilis (Japan, China)
  Mizuhopecten/Patinopecten yessoensis (eastern RussiaJapan, China, Western Canada [hybridized with Patinopecten caurinus])
  Pecten fumatus (Australia)
  Pecten maximus (United Kingdom, northern France and Spain, Norway)
  Placopecten magellanicus (eastern USA)
caption: A cultured Weathervane Scallop.
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