Unlike exoskeletal animals that shed their outer layers during a molt, scallops must expand their shell as they grow (Marin and Luquet, 2004). More southern areas such as Georges Bank (GBK) and the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) are high-production fishing grounds for this species and so the bulk of knowledge concerning ASC growth rates has been from samples collected from these areas (Hart and Chute, 2009a Hart and Chute, 2009b Mann and Rudders, 2019).Ī scallop is a bivalve mollusk, having two hardened calcium carbonate structures connected by a hinge and a large adductor muscle (Fig. However, areas like the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) are usually excluded from these predictive models because of lack of information regarding the growth of ASCs in these regions. Techniques have been developed that allow for population-wide simulations under different fishing scenarios to determine catch limits per area for consecutive years (Rheuban et al., 2018 NEFSC, 2018). This is due largely to extant and detailed approaches used to manage this fishery on a large-scale level. ASC biomass (in metric tons of meat) has more than doubled in the last decade over their range (NEFSC 2018) and ASCs are not overfished and overfishing is not occurring (NEFSC, 2018). In the United States, ASCs are harvested from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to Cobscook Bay, Maine (Hart and Chute, 2004). The Atlantic sea scallop ( Placopecten magellanicus ASC) is a historically important commercial bivalve on the North American east coast.
Keywords: Atlantic sea scallop, Environmental drivers, Gulf of Maine, Von Bertalanffy growth parameters This may imply changes in ASC growth in the future with increasing warming in the Gulf of Maine. However, our analysis reveals that bottom temperature and bottom salinity may be influencing inter-annual variabilities and contribute to growth rate differences seen between locations and years. No clear spatio-temporal trends in ASC growth are identified in the NGOM. In comparison to ASC growth on Georges Bank and in Southern New England, it appears that ASCs in the NGOM are growing at a similar rate yet have the potential to grow to a larger size.
Individualistic ASC length-at-age curves are developed to evaluate small and large scale spatio-temporal variabilities. To achieve these objectives, ASC shells have been continually collected through a partnership between the University of Maine and Maine Department of Marine Resources since 2006.
The objectives of this study are to determine if ASC growth varies spatially and/or temporally across the NGOM and if the variation in growth can be explained in part by variability in bottom temperature and bottom salinity. However, data from the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) are usually excluded from the assessment because limited monitoring effort and an overall lack of information regarding the growth of ASCs in this region have led to large uncertainty of fine-scale dynamics. Simulation-based assessment tools coupled with large-scale and consistent monitoring efforts contribute to the overall success of the Atlantic sea scallop ( Placopecten magellanicus ASC) fishery on the North American east coast. Spatiotemporal variability in Atlantic sea scallop ( Placopecten magellanicus) growth in the Northern Gulf of Maine. Hodgdon’s Email (Corresponding Author): Torre’s Email: Chen’s Email: C.T., Torre, M., and Chen, Y. Hodgdon 1,3, Michael Torre 1,2, and Yong Chen 1ġUniversity of Maine, School of Marine Sciences, Orono, ME 04469, USAĢUniversity of Washington, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, Seattle, WA 98195, USAģCorresponding Author’s Present Institution and Address: University of Maine, School of Marine Sciences, 5741 Libby Hall Room 221, Orono, ME 04469, USAĬameron T.