Scallop statistics span a global farmed seafood trade, valuable wild fisheries, regional Scottish landings, and a species with a distinctive life cycle. The figures below keep each measurement period and geography explicit, from world aquaculture totals reported for 2004–2013 to NOAA’s 2024 Atlantic sea scallop survey.
Table of contents
- Global farmed production
- U.S. wild harvest and value
- Scottish landings over time
- Scottish regional supply
- Scallop biology
- NOAA survey measurements
Global farmed production
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s World aquaculture production by species groups table reports scallops and pectens together. Quantities are tonnes, while values are in USD thousands. The table covers 2004–2013 and does not represent a current-year estimate.
| Year | Production (tonnes) | Value (USD thousand) |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 1,052,561 | 1,599,802 |
| 2005 | 1,146,909 | 1,836,087 |
| 2006 | 1,306,341 | 2,005,061 |
| 2007 | 1,464,172 | 2,221,632 |
| 2008 | 1,410,899 | 2,344,694 |
| 2009 | 1,583,614 | 2,499,528 |
| 2010 | 1,727,100 | 3,017,883 |
| 2011 | 1,519,612 | 2,830,965 |
| 2012 | 1,651,353 | 2,667,679 |
| 2013 | 1,868,246 | 3,279,006 |
Production rose from 1,052,561 tonnes in 2004 to 1,868,246 tonnes in 2013. The sequence was not uniform: output reached 1,464,172 tonnes in 2007, dipped to 1,410,899 tonnes in 2008, and then rose to 1,583,614 tonnes in 2009. The highest reported production in this series was 1,868,246 tonnes in 2013.
Reported value followed a different year-to-year path. It increased from USD 1,599,802 thousand in 2004 to USD 2,344,694 thousand in 2008, then reached USD 3,017,883 thousand in 2010. The 2011 value was USD 2,830,965 thousand, and the 2012 value was USD 2,667,679 thousand, before the series reached USD 3,279,006 thousand in 2013. These are the source table’s reported values, not a separately calculated market-price series. FAO, World aquaculture production by species groups
U.S. wild harvest and value
The U.S. commercial Atlantic sea scallop fishery recorded 21.3 million pounds of scallop meats in 2024, with a value of $333.2 million. NOAA’s figure is for scallop meats, meaning it should not be read as an in-shell weight. The same NOAA source also reports that the 2024 survey found strong numbers of two-year-old scallops; scallops typically reach harvestable size at about age 4 and older. NOAA, Atlantic Sea Scallop Dredge Survey
The Limited Access General Category Individual Fishing Quota fleet, or LAGC IFQ fleet, landed 1,349,781 lb of shucked scallop meats during the fee period from October 1, 2022, through September 30, 2023. The reported value of those landings was $19,396,367, and the average price paid to vessels was $14.37 per lb. These figures describe that specific fleet and fee period, rather than all U.S. scallop landings. NOAA, 2023 Annual Report of the Atlantic Sea Scallop Individual Fishing Quota Cost Recovery Program
NOAA’s fishing-year 2023 observer-compensation summary provides estimated average ex-vessel prices based on fishing-year 2022 estimates. The estimates vary by fleet and area:
| Trip category | Estimated average ex-vessel price |
|---|---|
| Limited-access open area | $14.89 per lb |
| Limited-access access area | $13.36 per lb |
| LAGC open area | $16.65 per lb |
| LAGC access area | $14.88 per lb |
| Northern Gulf of Maine | $19.75 per lb |
The Northern Gulf of Maine total allowable landing for fishing year 2023 was 434,311 lb. Because the prices in this comparison are estimates used for the fishing-year 2023 calculation, they should be distinguished from the reported $14.37 per lb average for the LAGC IFQ fee period. NOAA, Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery: Fishing Year 2023 Observer Compensation Rate Calculation Summary
Scottish landings over time
The Scottish scallop stock assessment reports Scottish and other UK-vessel dredge landings into Scotland in tonnes. The series shows a high point of 11,899 tonnes in 2013, followed by lower totals in later years, with a partial rebound in 2021.
| Year | Dredge landings into Scotland (tonnes) |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 11,899 |
| 2014 | 9,835 |
| 2015 | 9,848 |
| 2016 | 11,456 |
| 2017 | 8,234 |
| 2018 | 6,769 |
| 2019 | 5,776 |
| 2020 | 5,519 |
| 2021 | 6,445 |
| 2022 | 5,389 |
Landings were 9,835 tonnes in 2014 and 9,848 tonnes in 2015, then rose to 11,456 tonnes in 2016. They fell to 8,234 tonnes in 2017 and continued down to 6,769 tonnes in 2018, 5,776 tonnes in 2019, and 5,519 tonnes in 2020. The total increased to 6,445 tonnes in 2021 before reaching 5,389 tonnes in 2022.
The 2022 figure here is the assessment-area total from Table A.4. It is not the separate Table A.2 total for all landings into Scotland. The assessment tables report rounded tonnes. Scottish Government, 7. Appendices - Scottish scallop stocks: results of 2023 stock assessments
Scottish regional supply
The same Scottish assessment reports 2022 scallop landings by assessment area. Shetland recorded 1,459 tonnes, the largest listed regional total. North West recorded 1,216 tonnes, followed by North East at 891 tonnes and West of Kintyre at 755 tonnes.
| Assessment area | 2022 landings (tonnes) |
|---|---|
| Clyde | 133 |
| East Coast | 463 |
| North East | 891 |
| North West | 1,216 |
| Orkney | 569 |
| Shetland | 1,459 |
| West of Kintyre | 755 |
Clyde was the smallest listed assessment-area total at 133 tonnes. East Coast recorded 463 tonnes, while Orkney recorded 569 tonnes. The regional figures are rounded and should be treated as assessment-area landings, not a direct measure of restaurant supply or retail availability.
Scottish farm production is reported separately. The Scottish Shellfish Farm Production Survey 2023 records 24 thousand shells of farmed king scallop table production in Highland and 24 thousand shells across Scotland. It reports 0 thousand shells of on-growing production across Scotland. The reported average first-sale price was £2.18 per shell, and the estimated first-sale value of the farmed king scallop table trade was £0.1 million.
The survey reports that Scottish farmed king scallop table production decreased by 38% in 2023 compared with 2022. The unit for production is thousands of shells, so it is not interchangeable with the rounded-tonne wild-landings figures above. Scottish Government, Scottish Shellfish Farm Production Survey 2023
Scallop biology
NOAA’s Atlantic sea scallop species profile places the animals generally at depths of about 100–300 feet on Georges Bank and in the Mid-Atlantic. Sea scallops can live for up to 20 years. They typically do not grow larger than 6 inches in shell height, although the largest reported sea scallop was about 9 inches.
The species can reproduce by age 2, but produces relatively few eggs or sperm until about age 4. A female sea scallop can produce at least 100 million eggs per year. After hatching, scallop larvae remain in the water column for 4–6 weeks before settling on the ocean floor.
Color variation is also quantified in the NOAA profile: a small percentage, 5–10%, of Atlantic sea scallops are albinos with white upper and lower shells. These biological measurements provide context for why age structure, settlement, and the transition to harvestable size matter when interpreting fishery surveys. NOAA, Atlantic Sea Scallop: Management Areas
NOAA survey measurements
The 2024 NOAA dredge survey completed all 150 planned stations and added approximately 25 comparative stations. The standardized Atlantic sea scallop dredge used in the survey was 8 feet wide. Those are survey-method measurements, not estimates of the total area occupied by scallops.
NOAA’s 2024 HabCam work covered several survey legs and areas. The first leg covered 465 nautical miles in the Mid-Atlantic and 33 nautical miles in the Great South Channel. The second covered 202 nautical miles in the Great South Channel and 104 nautical miles on Georges Bank. The third completed 379 nautical miles in the Great South Channel and Closed Area 1, plus 232 nautical miles in the Mid-Atlantic.
Together, these measurements show the scale and structure of the survey effort: a dredge program with 150 planned stations, an 8-foot standardized dredge, and optical survey legs recorded in nautical miles. They should be read alongside the survey’s finding of strong numbers of two-year-old scallops, while remembering that NOAA describes harvestable size as typically occurring at about age 4 and older. NOAA, Atlantic Sea Scallop Dredge Survey