Seafood Watch - Seafood Guide

Scallops

© Monterey Bay Aquarium
SEAFOODRATINGMARKET NAMESWHERE CAUGHTHOW CAUGHT
Bay Scallops Good Alternative: These are good alternatives to the best choices column. There are some concerns with how they are fished or farmed – or with the health of their habitats due to other human impacts. Catarina Scallop Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico Diver-caught
Pink Scallops Best Choice: These fish are abundant, well managed and fished or farmed in environmentally friendly ways. Smooth Pink, Reddish Scallops, Swimming Scallops Canadian Pacific Butterfly Trawl
Scallops Best Choice: These fish are abundant, well managed and fished or farmed in environmentally friendly ways. Scallops Worldwide Farmed
Sea Scallops Good Alternative: These are good alternatives to the best choices column. There are some concerns with how they are fished or farmed – or with the health of their habitats due to other human impacts. Giant Scallop, Hotate U.S. Atlantic Dredged
Sea Scallops Best Choice: These fish are abundant, well managed and fished or farmed in environmentally friendly ways. Lion-Paw Scallop Laguna Ojo de Liebre and Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico Diver-caught
Sea Scallops Good Alternative: These are good alternatives to the best choices column. There are some concerns with how they are fished or farmed – or with the health of their habitats due to other human impacts. Chilean Scallop, Fan Scallop, Peruvian Calico Scallop Sechura Bay, Peru Diver-caught
Sea Scallops Good Alternative: These are good alternatives to the best choices column. There are some concerns with how they are fished or farmed – or with the health of their habitats due to other human impacts. Giant Scallop, Digby Scallop, Hotate, Petoncles Canadian Atlantic Dredged
Spiny Scallops Best Choice: These fish are abundant, well managed and fished or farmed in environmentally friendly ways. Pink, Pacific Pink, Swimming Scallops Canadian Pacific Butterfly Trawl
Weathervane Scallops Best Choice: These fish are abundant, well managed and fished or farmed in environmentally friendly ways. Alaska scallops Alaska Dredged


Scallops, Farmed

While most scallops consumed in the U.S. are wild-caught, the availability of farmed scallops is increasing with demand. The majority of farmed scallops are a "Best Choice" because the way they're raised presents few threats to the environment.

Consumer Note

Scallops are available year-round. For food safety reasons, fresh scallops may be limited to certain seasons in specific regions. They're cooked in or out of the shell and available fresh or frozen. Scallops are also available raw for sushi and are known as hotate.

Scallops use a strong, circular muscle to clap their shells together, letting them "fly" through the water and out of harm's way. It's this circular (abductor) muscle that's prized as seafood.


Summary

Scallops are filter feeders that live on tiny particles filtered out of seawater. They actually help improve water quality and clarity. Farmed scallops make up a very small percentage of the scallops consumed in the U.S. The vast majority are wild-caught in U.S. and Canadian fisheries.

A small amount of the farmed scallops available in the U.S. are imported from China and Japan. Because they don't rely on fishmeal or fish oil-based feeds, scallop farms have a very low impact on marine resources. In addition, scallop farms rarely use fertilizers, antibiotics and other chemicals that could spread into surrounding waters and impact the local ecosystem.

Scallops are commonly raised "on-bottom" or "off-bottom." The off-bottom technique is preferred, because these scallops are harvested by hand. On-bottom scallops are often removed from the seafloor with a heavy net called a dredge, which can harm ecosystems that marine life depends on. The majority of the farmed scallops imported into the U.S. are farmed off-bottom.

Most scallop farms cause minimal environmental impacts, making farmed scallops a "Best Choice."


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How fish are caught or farmed makes a difference. Fishing boat