Commercial Scalloping Season Opens With Sunny Skies, Mild Temperatures, And High Prices

Nantucket’s commercial scalloping season opened Monday morning under blue skies and warm temperatures as the island’s fleet returned to the harbors on the hunt for the prized shellfish.

Roughly 26 boats ventured out to drop dredges on the first day, with many concentrated in the Fulling Mill area, according to Tara Riley, the town's shellfish and aquatic resources manager. Most were back to the docks with their full five-bushel limits by 10 a.m.

Beyond the mild conditions, another pleasant surprise for the scallopers was the wholesale price: island fish markets were paying fishermen roughly $27 per pound, nearly double last year's price on opening day.

The retail prices surveyed by the Current at island fish markets on Tuesday were as follows:

• Sayle's Seafood: $36 per pound
• Nantucket Seafoods: $39 per pound
• Glidden's Island Seafood: $40 per pound

Nantucket Seafood's owner Ted Jennison said there are many factors which go into the wholesale price - which he described as an educated guess on opening day - as well as the retail price.

"We make an educated guess at the beginning of every season as to what might be a fair price, and it's nothing but your best educated guess. You get it?" Jennison said on Tuesday. "And it's based on, somewhat, maybe, on what sea scallops are doing and what the Vineyard is doing and so forth, you know? And the bottom line is, supply and demand always wins out."

Most of the Nantucket bay scallops that Jennison buys from island scallopers is shipped by FedEx to retailers and restaurants around the country. And many fishermen are choosing to sell their own catch directly to buyers off-island as well.

"At the end of the day, more and more fishermen are going off island," Jennison said. "But it's not totally because they wanted to. It's because there's a lack of buyers. You can only take so many because you might get caught in a jam. You got too much product, and you only got one thing you can do when you're getting too much. That's close the door or say sorry. But when you do that, then you're losing that fisherman pretty much forever. So that's why I've never done that except to some part-time guys that were just using me for their regular agenda, and whenever they couldn't get rid of them, they were dumping their product on me when they didn't have a better place to go."

The last commercial season ended in March with 7,800 bushels landed - a drop off from the previous two seasons in which more than 10,000 bushels were collected in consecutive years. But that may have been due in part to a harsh winter marked by a deep freeze and numerous days of fishing lost to cold temperatures.

To make up for those losses, the Select Board granted two increases to the five-bushel limit commercial scallopers are allowed to take each day. In January 2026, they raised it to six bushels, and in February, they agreed to increase it once again to seven bushels.

As the 2026-27 season opens, there's already talk of raising the bushel limit once again. On Tuesday, the Harbor & Shellfish Advisory Board voted unanimously (with scallopers Jim Sjolund and Bob DeCosta recusing themselves) to recommend to the Select Board that it grant the authority to the Natural Resources Department to adjust the bushel count during the season in response to factors such as the number of active fishermen, landings, and surveys.

The Select Board will consider the request at its meeting on Wednesday.

"It seems to be that they’re spread out pretty good in the harbor," scalloper and Select Board member Bob DeCosta said. "Personally, I think we can go to six bushels."