By Togue Brawn, Owner, Downeast Dayboat Scallops
Each November calls start coming in from people wondering if I have any insight into what the scallop price will be when Maine’s season opens in December. I tell them all I can do is consult the latest New Bedford Auction prices, because sadly that’s still what determines what Maine scallopers will get paid. Why do I say sadly? Because Maine fishermen are paid a commodity price for their premium dayboat product, which is what led me to quit my job at the Department of Marine Resources back in 2011 to launch a company to differentiate Maine’s superior dayboat product. But more on that later…for now, let’s stick with commodity pricing.
Togue Brawn is founder and owner of Downeast Dayboat Scallops.
Commodity pricing is, by definition, driven by supply and demand, and until recently scallops were coming over the docks in New Bedford in record numbers. Closures originally crafted to protect groundfish led to huge growth in the scallop biomass. This enabled the implementation of rotational management, where areas (access areas) with a high percentage of juveniles were closed to allow scallops to grow to premium market size before harvest. Fisheries managers call this maximizing yield per recruit, which is a fancy way of saying getting more bang for your buck. A scallop harvested as a U10 (fewer than 10 scallops per pound) weighs twice as much as it would if you’d taken it when it was just a 20 count, so by letting it sit around for a year or two, you doubled your weight. You’ll also get paid more per pound thanks to the premium for larger scallops. This year, that premium has been particularly impressive: as much as a $20 difference in the price paid for U12’s compared with 10-20’s (10 to 20 scallops per pound).
Why the big spread? Well, the 2013 year class that yielded large numbers of big scallops has petered out, and the good old days of the access areas are in the rearview mirror, at least for now. With fewer large scallops on the market, the price has hit historic highs. But it’s not just big scallops that are scarce: scallops in the mid-Atlantic have declined precipitously, most likely due to warming waters. With the mid-Atlantic and access areas unproductive, boats have focused on the open areas off New England, so they’ve been fished hard. There really aren’t many bright spots in federal waters. There’s hope on the horizon in signs of recruitment, but right now it’s slim pickin’s on federal scallop grounds, so the scallop quota is much lower than in past years. And when the supply is low, the price is high.
This means the boat price will likely be high this winter, which is good news for Maine scallopers. But that small bit of good news obscures an important point, which is the price paid to Maine fishermen for their premium dayboat scallops is still set by the much larger offshore fishery. And that needs to change, because all scallops are NOT equal.
How are Maine scallops so different? Well, 95% of U.S. sea scallops come from large boats fishing federal waters, often for a week or more at a time. Their catch is stored in cloth bags buried in ice. The cloth allows gases to escape as the scallops age, but it also permits melting ice to reach the scallops, which absorb it like sponges. Added water means extra weight, and while that water weight fetches more money, it also dilutes flavor.
There’s nothing wrong with these scallops. This fishing is sustainable and produces high quality protein at an affordable price, but it’s a commodity product. Maine scallops are different, and they should be priced as such. Because Maine scallopers will always produce a tiny fraction of U.S. supply, if we can increase demand through differentiation, prices will follow.
In Maine, our state-licensed boats must stay within three miles of shore and are limited to no more than 15 gallons of scallops per day (roughly 135 pounds), or 10 gallons in Cobscook Bay. Their trips last hours, not days. Maine scallopers store their catch in five-gallon buckets, so there’s no direct contact with ice. That means Maine scallops come ashore quickly, in pristine condition with no added water. I started Downeast Dayboat on that simple fact – who wouldn’t prefer a fresh, pure scallop to an old waterlogged one? But I soon discovered something even more interesting about Maine scallops: not only are our scallops fresher and purer, they also come in many varietals.
You’re likely aware that oysters develop different flavors depending on where they grow. An oyster from the Chesapeake Bay tastes dramatically different from one grown in Penobscot Bay. Some people can even discern differences from one part of a bay to another. But you probably don’t realize the same is true of scallops. Scallops and oysters are both filter feeders, so they draw everything they need from the waters they grow in. So where they grow matters. But most people don’t realize this fact, since they’ve only tasted generic offshore scallops whose flavor has been diluted by water.
An old fisherman once told me, “Togue, I’ve fished from Digby, Nova Scotia to North Carolina, and I can’t explain why but there’s something about a Maine scallop. It’s just better.” It’s understandable that Maine’s cold waters would produce exceptional shellfish. But it’s fascinating that our deeply crenulated coast produces such a rich variety of scallop flavors and textures. Among our many varietals, there are standouts: In 2015 I brought scallops from three areas to chefs in New York, and nine of the eleven pointed to the Gouldsboro Bay scallop as the one they’d most want to serve raw due to its “intense gaminess and firm texture.”
So with Maine scallops being fresher, purer and more delicious, why aren’t our fishermen paid more for them? It’s simple: because people don’t know about them. For decades, we’ve been shipping these scallops out of state to be mixed in with the stuff from the offshore boats. That’s like pouring a bottle of Dom Perignon into a vat of Barefoot Bubbly, and it needs to stop.
A few years back, a chef explained, “I know these [Downeast Dayboat] scallops are worth $35 a pound. They’re the best scallops I’ve ever tasted. But to pay $35 a pound, I have to charge $60 a plate. If I put a $60 steak on my menu, customers will assume it’s a super premium cut, because they know that level of quality exists in beef. But because they don’t know this level of quality exists in scallops, they’ll just think I’m overcharging them.”
So what does this mean? It means we Mainers need to spread the word. If you have out-of-state guests coming for Christmas this year, feed them Maine scallops, and tell them why they’re so special. There’s more information at Give Maine Seafood and other reputable sites. If you need help finding a fisherman who’ll sell you scallops, check out the Maine Fish Direct Facebook page. And of course, if you’d like to ship scallops out of state, I’d be happy to oblige, because that’s my specialty.
Elevating Maine scallops will benefit all Maine fishermen, because the waters that produce better scallops also produce other superior-tasting seafood. It’s just more obvious with filter feeders like scallops and oysters, so they’re an easier way to get folks on board to demand Maine seafood. We need to do a better job of showing folks outside Maine just how amazing our seafood is. So this winter, let’s spread the word about Maine’s dayboat scallops!
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