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BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION 1889Page 333
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GIANT SCALLOP FISHERY OF MAINE.
SECTION E. PREPARATION OF PRODUCTS, MARKETS, ETC.
17. Handling the Catch, Shipments, etc
The scallops which are considered large enough for market range in diameter from
4 to 8 inches, averaging about 51 inches. Few individuals less than 4 inches are ever
utilized, the fishermen in most places, with commendable forethought, either returning them to the water when brought up in the dredge along with the larger specimens
or having the rings forming the bag of such size that the small ones pass through
unharmed.
From ninety to one hundred and ten scallops are usually required to fill a bushel measure. The largest specimens, perhaps, are secured around Mount Desert Island, while in the Sheepscot River they are relatively smaller.
In many localities a bushel of scallops, when shucked, will yield a gallon of meats. At Castine, Little Deer Isle, and Cape Rosier, however, about one and one half bushels are usually required to shuck out a gallon of meats, and on the Sheepscot River about 2 bushels are considered as equivalent to a gallon. The weight of a gallon of meats is 9 to 9 and one half pounds.
Practically the entire production of scallops is placed on the market in a shucked condition, the few sales in the shell being either local or to. fill special orders.
After returning from the fishing grounds the fishermen repair to some spot on the shore or to an outhouse, and there, assisted in some localities by the women and children of their families, open the scallops, retaining the thick, firm adductor muscle ("eye" or "heart," so called) and throwing away the mantles or 4' skirts," except in the few instances noted. The meats are placed in buckets, boxes, firkins, etc., holding from 1 to 20 gallons, and, when destined for more distant markets, are in a frozen condition or in cold storage during transportation. Shipments are commonly made by the fishermen themselves and not through the intervention of a local dealer. The scallops, except in rare instances, are sold on commission.
It seems worthy of remark that the practice of soaking the meats, which is so prevalent at certain places on the Massachusetts coast and elsewhere, is not followed, so far as known, in Maine. By immersing the meats of the small scallop (P. irradians) in water from ten to sixteen hours, they are greatly increased in bulk, and the result is that what was originally a gallon becomes 1 gallon and 3 quarts. It is evident that this is a profitable procedure. If for any reason, however, the sale of such meats is much delayed after reaching market and the surplus of water is lost by evaporation, the scallops are much inferior in quality to those that have not been so manipulated. It is said that the inception of soaking of Massachusetts scallops may be attributed to the fact that the meat of the Maine species is so much larger that it was almost closing the Boston market against the small but equally palatable Pecten irradians.
18. MARKETS.
Boston is now the principal market for scallops, receiving almost the entire output of certain centers. Smaller quantities are consigned to New York, Philadelphia, and numerous-towns in Maine, among which maybe mentioned Portland, Bangor, Augusta, and Belfast. When the shipping of scallops from Mount Desert Island first began,
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Page 334 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION.
practically the entire catch was sent to New York, but of late, owing to the close proximity of Boston and the creation of a more steady demand, the bulk of the yield has been shipped to that place during the colder months. During the open season at Bar Harbor and other fashionable resorts on the island, nearly all the scallops taken in that region find a ready local sale. The output of Little Deer Isle is mostly sent to New York and Philadelphia. Boothbay and the other towns and settlements on or adjacent to the Sheepscot River receive a large part of the catch of that stream, the shipment to distant places being limited.
19.-PRICES.
Although the prices received for scallops at the beginning of the fisheries have not been maintained, they have not declined so materially as to prevent the profitable prosecution of the fishery at the present time; and it seems probable that with the growing demand for the mollusk the prices are not destined to reach any lower basis than the average for the past three years. ,
At the inception of the fishery, the scallop meats often sold for $2.50 or more per gallon. As the supply increased the prices dropped and at times have reached the low figure of 25 cents per gallon. The average value to the fishermen during the years 1887-'89 was between 50 and 75 cents, although not infrequently $1 and $1.25 have been obtained.
The prices naturally vary with the supply and the demand and the state of preservation in which the scallops reach market.
Mr. F. F. Dimick, the secretary of the Boston Fish Bureau, states that there has been little if any variation in the average prices of Maine scallops in the Boston fish market in the past two or three years, during which time the wholesale value ranged from 50 cents to $1.25 per gallon.
Regarding the relative value of the giant scallop and the small species taken in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Mr. Dimick finds that in Boston the Rhode Island stock is the most highly esteemed, while the scallops from Cape Cod rank next, followed by the Maine species. The ruling prices received by the fishermen for the Rhode Island goods are from 75 cents to $1 per gallon, and by the wholesale mer- chants from $1 to $1.50. The scallops from Cape Cod bring 50 cents to $1 at first hands and 75 cents to $1.25 at wholesale.
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Tables of boats, apparatus products and article synopsis.
