Into the Black Box: Following Maine’s Scallops

What happens to a scallop during the first few weeks of its life? For scientists, much of that journey remains a “black box.” After spawning, tiny scallop larvae spend weeks drifting through the water column before settling somewhere along the seafloor, and where they end up can have important implications for both Maine’s wild scallop fishery and its growing aquaculture industry. In this episode of Salty Talks, we speak with scallop researcher Phoebe Jekielek about the surprisingly charismatic lives of scallops and the science behind tracking their earliest stages. Phoebe explains how researchers are deploying hundreds of spat bags along the Maine coast to look for patterns in larval settlement, and how modeling and genetics could eventually help scientists trace young scallops back to the adult populations that produced them. The conversation also explores the close relationship between wild scallops and scallop aquaculture. Maine’s scallop farmers currently rely on wild spat to stock their farms, but research into larval supply, hatchery development and potential enhancement could create new opportunities for farmers, fishermen and fisheries managers to work together.