Bryce D. Beukers-Stewart & Joanne S. Beukers-Stewart, Environment Department,  University of York

Executive Summary:

Fisheries for scallops, particularly the great scallop Pecten maximus and to a lesser extent the queen scallop, Aequipecten opercularis, are of considerable economic importance to the United Kingdom (UK) fishing industry. Landings of great scallops have been growing steadily since the 1970s and now consistently place this fishery in the top five most valuable species in the UK. Queen scallop catches have been much more variable over the same time period. Great scallops are predominately taken using Newhaven scallop dredges while queen scallops are mostly captured with otter trawls.

A very small percentage (< 5 %) of the great scallop catch is taken by hand by SCUBA divers.

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