(With few exceptions, wild scallops in the United States are shucked before they are sold to avoid possible bacterial contamination found in the viscera and the roe. Brewer’s scallops came from their freshness, alive until minutes before cooking, which gives farmed scallops the edge over even the most pristine shucked wild day-boat scallops. Of course, part of the deliciousness of Mr. Much of the technology and methods used for Maine scallop aquaculture originated in Japan, which has been cultivating sea scallops since the 1950s. Brewer adapted this recipe from versions he saw when he visited Japan in 2016, on a research trip organized by Coastal Enterprises Incorporated (CEI), a nonprofit that supports sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in Maine. Brewer steamed small unshucked scallops in an old coffee pot, and dipped the tender nuts of meat in soy sauce and wasabi. But they’re also compelling lightly cooked, which firms them up and makes them meaty and dense.įor lunch, Mr. You can have them raw, slurped right out of the shell with the roe still attached, their adductor muscles a little twitchy and as bouncy as jelly. The cold, deep waters of the Gulf of Maine are particularly well suited to scallops and other shellfish, giving them an incomparably rich, saline flavor. In terms of flavor, the farmed and wild sea scallops in Maine are identical: almost candy sweet, with a distinct briny, umami complexity. “The market for adductors is, if not bottomless, pretty close to it,” he said. Prices are rising, too, right along with demand.Īccording to Dana Morse, a sea scallop specialist at Maine Sea Grant at the University of Maine, the United States imports about $300 million in scallops annually. Brewer calls “a big-ticket item.” They are the second-most valuable landing in the region behind lobsters, which in 2019 was worth $637 million, compared with $569 million for scallops.Īnd the demand keeps growing, as does the supply, coming from the American fishery and from imports.
Scallops, unlike less expensive mussels or clams, are what Mr.
“It’s to create a different market that could also augment the wild supply.”Ī market for farmed sea scallops could be huge - and lucrative. “The goal with scallop aquaculture is not to eliminate the wild fishery, which is very important to the economy in Maine,” Ms. There are only a handful of sea scallop farms in the United States, and most are in Maine, run by fishing families who, like the Brewers, are looking for ways to diversify beyond lobster while still keeping their boats in the water. But there are some small-scale, sustainable exceptions suited to the skills, equipment and knowledge of traditional fishermen. Large-scale aquafarms can cause ecological havoc, polluting the ocean, devastating wild populations and putting even more pressure on already fragile fisheries. So, I thought, how do we make more fish?”Īquaculture is not the usual answer. “It’s made me think, maybe it’s not that there are too many fishermen, but that there’s not enough fish.
“What I’ve seen over the years has not been good,” he said as he shucked a scallop, revealing its pale adductor muscle - the white disk we think of when we picture scallops - nestled against a pillow of orange roe.