Islanders feel fallout from poor scallop season
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER

PHOTO BY ROB BENCHLEY A herring gull waits for a potential meal while scallop boats in the Boat Basin remained idle.

Commercial scalloper Vic Reed is a retired appliance repairman and can do without the income from scalloping if he has to.

Even Keel owner Marshall Thompson, although he said the poor economy in general is to blame for empty seats in his Main Street eatery, is definitely missing Nantucket's tastiest shellfish in dinner specials such as pan-seared bay scallops.

Yet, year-round fisherman Doug "Smitty" Smith has no other means of income than scalloping during the five-month commercial season.

"None. I'm out looking for work today. My financial option is to go down to Charlie Sayle's to borrow $400 to make my car payment, car insurance, phone and utilities," said Smith yesterday. "There is no work and that's why the timing is so bad for this ruling."

The week before commercial scallop season opened, the state's Division of Marine Fisheries instituted a 10 millimeter ruling, which allows only scallops with well-defined growth rings 10 millimeters or more up from the hinge to be taken in addition to true adults.

According to an early version of a survey report on the economic value of Nantucket's bay scallop fishery by UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station intern Kim Starbuck, of the 40 commercial scallopers who completed the survey in the summer of 2005, almost half said that commercial scalloping accounted for more than 33 percent of their annual income, while 17 percent said it accounted for less than 33 percent.

Annual income from scalloping ranged from 10 to 65 percent with an average of 37.95 percent, said Starbuck in her survey.

As a result of the state's Division of Marine Fisheries' 10 millimeter ruling, which greatly reduced the number of legal scallops, scallopers are now working or looking for work on shore.

Yet, the scallopers, who invested heavily in their boats, gear and licenses are not the only people affected by the 10 mm rule.

Shuckers, who rely on the income from opening scallops and the island seafood markets and restaurants that rely on the sale of scallops also are hurting financially this season.

Nantucket Seafoods co-owner Ted Jennison, who normally closes his store to retail sales around this time of year, estimates a total loss of $165,000 a week to the scallop fleet.

A bushel of scallops yields roughly eight pounds of meat; the current boat price is $11 a pound and scallopers typically bring in and sell to the four local buyers on the island 3,000 pounds a day or $165,000 a week, a number that gradually shrinks as the season wears on.

Intrepid scallopers, who overnight their catch directly to mainland restaurants and fish markets, or travel to Martha's Vineyard to sell their catch, get a higher price than selling on Nantucket.

Currently, Louie Larsen, owner of the Vineyard Haven fish market, the Net Result, is buying scallops for $13 a pound, down from his opening price of $15 because he heard from Sayle that the 10 mm rule might be relaxed (see related story).

Nantucket scalloper Dan Pronk, who gave up fishing for a two-month renovation job, said he usually gets $2 to $2.50 more per pound selling his catch off island.

Jennison said regardless of scallop supply levels, it is not economically feasible for him to keep his retail store open this time of year because he can make far more money on scallops.

"You need to be on the open market producing and selling them and this is what we're afraid of; we're losing our foothold here," said Jennison, who estimates he is losing around $1,500 a day right now.

He is worried that should the 10 mm rule eventually be loosened, the longer it remains in effect, the tougher it will be to reconnect with off-island buyers for a decent price.

Peter Ramsden, co-president of M. F. Foley Fish Co. of New Bedford, Mass. corroborated Jennison's estimates, but said his business will roll with the ups and downs of Nantucket's bay scallop fishery and can jump right back into the market with plenty of hungry buyers, should the availability of scallops increase. However, Foley's daily sales of Nantucket scallops are way down from last year at this time.

"We haven't sold a few hundred pounds thus far in the opening week in which we normally would have sold 600 to 700 pounds on opening day," said Ramsden. "Today's the fifth day and I think our total poundage is just under 200 pounds."

Whitey Willauer, in his letter this week to the editor of The Nantucket Independent, said he believes the island economy is losing $200,000 to $300,000 a day from which seven to 10 levels of islanders benefit financially.

Scallop shuckers typically make 20 percent of a scalloper's daily haul, usually around $100 for a single limit and $200 for a double, 10-box limit.

Others who benefit from the scallop industry include seafood stores. Last week, scallops were selling from $19 to $19.95 per pound retail. Restaurants that would ordinarily have bay scallops on their menu as an appetizer or entrée are now going without.

At the Downy Flake Restaurant, which traditionally lists a scallop roll as one of its specials, owner Susan Tate, who declined to comment on the negative affects of the scarcity of local scallops this fall, said only that what scallops they were able to get would soon be gone.

Thompson said island visitors coming to Nantucket also look for scallops on his menu.

"I think our drop in business is a lot bigger than the scallops not coming in, but there is a definite drop in business," he said.

Starbuck's survey results, while not finalized, revealed that of the 35 restaurants she polled, nine advertised scallops on their menu. Four of the five restaurants that responded to Starbuck's financial significance question said that scallops increased their business 10 to 20 percent. I