ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 15, 2021
Fishermen are harvesting fewer scallops off the East Coast as the population of the valuable shellfish appears to be on the decline. Sea scallops are one of the most profitable resources in the Atlantic, and the U.S. fishery was worth more than $570 million at the docks in 2019. Fishermen harvested more than 60 million pounds that year. But fishermen harvested about 43.5 million pounds in 2020 after a projection that they would collect more than 51 million pounds, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. They’re expected to harvest about 40 million pounds this year. NOAA officials cautioned that the scallop population is not in peril.