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Hand Picking Bay of Fundy Scallops: Catch, Cook and Eat

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Mike Adams of Rothesay, New Brunswick, and two of his diving buddies agreed to go scallop fishing in Green’s Point, New Brunswick, to take advantage of his new scallop fishing license and his new drysuit. Scallops can be found in a number of zones and areas, (East Coast) some of which are only open from December to March. Green’s Point is scheduled to close at the end of March.

From Newfoundland to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, Atlantic sea scallops can be found in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Sea scallops can have a 20-year lifespan. For the first few years of their lives, they develop rapidly. The largest scallop ever recorded had a shell height of about 9 inches, but they rarely exceed 6 inches. Sea scallops can reproduce at the age of two, but they don’t produce a lot of eggs or sperm until they’re around four years old. They usually spawn in late summer or early fall. Scallop larvae stay in the water column for 4 to 6 weeks after hatching before settling on the ocean floor. Sea scallops eat by filtering phytoplankton and other small organisms from the water column, which may enhance water quality by eliminating suspended materials. Scallops provide nutrition for cod, wolffish, eelpout, flounder, crabs, lobster, sea turtles, and sea stars.

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Dive Report: Mike Adams

“We dove an hour (two in water and look-out onshore) before absolutely low tide to prevent diving in currents. Green’s Point, New Brunswick, was the location of the dive. We did two dives, reaching a maximum depth of 46 feet with a water temperature of 41 degrees Fahrenheit. We shore dived and didn’t find big scallops until we were away from shore, as most of the ones closer to shore had already been picked over. We dove the site last week as it was still open for harvesting, and it’s a popular shore diving spot. I hauled in 15 scallops, while my dive partner brought in over 60. Mike was concentrating more on the video recording than getting his bag limit. Scallop fishing has a daily catch limit of 100. The Cove we dove in is suitable because it was historically used for salmon farming, and there are boulders and other anchors strewn around the shore, making it difficult for scallop draggers to work there. We had to go at low tide because the bottom was 40 feet deep, but it would have been closer to 70 feet if we had gone at high tide. The tide was beginning to rise on our second dive, and there was enough of a current that we had to cut our dive short and return to shore. It’s not a place to dive for people who aren’t used to dealing with currents and tidal fluctuations”.

Mike Adams

Mike’s mission is to encourage more diving in the Maritime province of New Brunswick. He also makes historical videos in addition to diving videos. This year, he’ll be documenting aviation crashes in the province of New Brunswick. In this province alone, there are over 300 recorded accidents, and he has teamed up with the Canadian Aviation Historical Society to record the history and stories of the pilots who perished in some of these crashes. Mike has also partnered with the “Hammond River Angling Association” to create a series of videos for them about salmon and the protection of one of our local rivers, the Hammond River.

Mike’s summer 2021 adventures will be accompanied by The Scuba News Canada, which will cover his work in the coming months.

Subscribe to Mike’s YouTube Channel, RiverVids for more diving adventures.

Follow Mike on Facebook

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About Author

Kathy is the owner of Kirk Scuba Gear, a passionate Scuba Diver, Ocean Advocate and Managing Editor of The Scuba News Canada

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