Nantucket Commercial Scalloping Season Opens, But Fishermen Getting Only $12 Per Pound

Nantucket’s commercial scalloping season opened Friday morning as nearly 20 boats returned to the water with temperatures hovering in the 60s and sunny skies overhead.

The island's fleet took advantage of the good weather, and the season began with fishermen reporting a good number of adult scallops in the harbor. But the day ended with grumbling over the price being paid by Nantucket's fishmongers. 

The wholesale price paid to fishermen opened Friday at $12 per pound - down from last year’s opening day price of $15 - while the retail price settled around $22 to $26 per pound at island fish markets.

Bobby DeCosta, who was scalloping Friday morning with his son Ray, said there were plenty of scallops out there, but emphasized that the low price will be a deterrent to some in the fleet continuing to fish throughout the season.

“There’s a lot of scallops but we won’t catch them all,” DeCosta said.

Another island scalloper told the Current: "At $12 per pound, it's not worth it. For all the expenses we have just to get out on the water, pay an opener, and knowing what Nantucket scallops sell for off-island, that price is ridiculous."

Last year’s commercial season ended with a total catch of 8,709 bushels, an 18.8 percent increase over the previous year.

After scallopers and the town’s Natural Resources Department all noted an abundance of seed (juvenile) scallops in the harbors last year, there is hope for an even larger harvest during the 2024-25 season.

But how was the scalloping itself on opening day? Naturally, it depends on who you ask.

“It wasn’t that great,” said Marty Mack as he was unloading his catch at Straight Wharf. “I thought it would be a lot better because of the seed we had last year. I’ve seen a lot worse. But I’ve seen a lot better. It’s below average I’d say, I’ve been doing it 41 years and it’s nothing great right now. Where’d all that seed go? I don’t know if some of it died."

Kona Hosier and Ron Janes were getting back to the Boat Basin with their limit around the same time.

“I’d say it was great,” Hosier said. “The efforts that were put forth (referring to the seed), we’re reaping the benefits now.”

At Souza’s Seafood on Trotters Lane, Mark Souza and Richard Grangrade were opening their haul of bay scallops from the morning. Souza said they started in Madaket but finished in town. Some will be sold on-island even though the family’s retail market is closed, while most will be shipped to Boston, he said.

At Nantucket Seafoods on Old South Road, fishmonger Ted Jennison’s shanty was busy as he prepared to stock his retail store as well as ship several hundred pounds of scallops to restaurants around the country, including California, Chicago, Florida, and New York City.

Despite last year’s increase in the number of bushels, the total has not topped 10,000 since the 2017-18 season, and remains a far cry from the heyday of the Nantucket scallop fishery in the early 1980s, when more than 300 people purchased commercial licenses and the harvest topped 100,000 bushels.