Spot X Scallops
DESCRIPTION
Dive site Review Anna Clague
Photos by Andrew Simpson
Nearly all hunter gatherer divers will have a spot X for their favourite and most plentiful scallop bed. You will never get the coordinates out of them, not even with bribery or trickery will this particular dive site be freely shared with others. Its location will be guarded with the ferocity of a hurricane and its spoils will be spoken of in reverent tones. If you are lucky enough to happen upon a scallop bed of your own then you will need to make sure of a few things when diving this.
Take a catch bag. This is a purpose made piece of equipment that is strong enough to hold your hard won scallops without breaking and letting them all run free. This is also free draining so that you are not dragging half the ocean with you. Ideally it will have somewhere to attach a line so that you can send up a marker on its location and pull it up once you are back onboard the boat, or better yet, get the boat man to work for his share by pulling up the catch.
Therefore you will also require a line and some form of surface marker. These can also be deployed to signal your location underwater to any boat traffic that may be whizzing about above you. Safety First!! Markers can be towed from the surface and act as a surface marker with a float and flag or deployed from underwater when you are ready to ascend to mark either your location or the catchbags location. Of course you can just carry the bag up to the surface but if you have managed to snag your full quota this can be quite weighty.
Know what to look for. For a diver who has never gone scallop hunting before it is not necessarily obvious what to look for. Scallops like to nestle down in the seafloor. They snuggle themselves into the silt, curvy side down. You may see a slight indent in the silt or just an identifiable round patch with a rim of scallop eyes (yes they have eyes – quite pretty really) sticking out. These suckers can swim too. They clap their shells together creating a siphon of water that is used for propulsion. They can only maintain this for short bursts – 5 or so claps – before exhausting themselves necessitating they stop and rest for a few hours.
Take a measure. The legal requirement is that divers must measure their scallops on the seafloor before bringing them up to the surface. The legal size limit is 100mm across the widest part of the shell and you are allowed 20 per person per day. Check out the Recreational Fisheries pamphlet for additional info. There will be no room for a Fisherman's tale to get you out of trouble here.
