"Growing Bay Scallops on a Maine Oyster Farm as a Strategy to Diversify Crops and Adapt to a Warming Gulf"

This project sought to test whether bay scallops (Argopecten irradians) could be grown as a secondary species on a Maine oyster farm.

Scallop seed was grown in lantern nets (first in spat bags, then loose) from July 2023 until December 2024. Staring at month ten, scallops were stocked at 75 individuals per lantern net tier. Lantern nets were dried on a specially designed raft to prevent and removing fouling, while reducing the amount scallops were handled. 

The majority of scallops (79%) reached a marketable size by the 15th month of growth. Mortality (driven by unusually severe fouling by mussels) was high, particularly during the overwinter off-season. Only 46% of scallops remained at the end of the experiment. These scallops were very positively received by buyers, fetched a high price, but required a large amount of labor to process.

Outreach was conducted at two conferences that focused on farmers and scientists, on a public-facing farm demonstration day, and directly to an agricultural co-op. Social media outreach was focused mainly on other sea farmers. Read more