July 9, Monday: Crab traps and scallop seed propagation

hold the line

What’s Going on in the Tisbury Shellfish Department  

July 9, Monday: Crab traps and scallop seed propagation

The opening day of scallop season in late October is highly anticipated by Tisbury residents. The opportunity to eat freshly harvested Vineyard bay scallops
is one of the luxuries of Island living. Sea scallops cannot compare to their delicate sweet taste. But a lot of hard work goes into trying to provide a good set of scallops, which varies from year to year. The Tisbury Shellfish department regularly traps the crabs that feed on juvenile scallops. It is dirty, smelly business. Crab traps are baited with fish carcasses left behind in a barrel on the dock. And the barrel must be emptied.

hauling crabs


The shellfish department also receives tissue packets containing thousands of tiny scallops from the Shellfish Group hatchery. These packets are placed into net mesh bags to protect them from predation where they can hopefully grow to a larger size before seeding them out into the ponds.

On Monday, Tisbury shellfish constable Danielle Ewart, assistant constable Nelson Sigelman and intern Hannah Gonsalves put out more than a dozen spat bags.

tiny spat

A tissue containing thousands of tiny bay scallops