comox scallops

[Fixit]

a friend picked up some fresh scallops from the Fishermans wharf... OMG were they good! has anyone found a spot around comox where someone could scuba or snorkel to harvest some? I know they're around in deep water as I've snagged a few while jigging bottom

 

[Sangstercraft]

Did they say where the scallops were from? What I've bought has always come from the east coast. I've seen rock scallops while snorkling but they're so rare in my area I've always let them be. I've seen swimming scallops while scuba diving, but they're too small to be worth it.

 

[Fixit]

I assume they’re a local scallop as they were fresh of a commercial boat in comox fisherman’s wharf. About 1.5 -2” across?

 

[Hardy Guy]

Those are spiny pink scallops (swiming scallops). There is a commercial trawl fishery for them in the Straight of Georgia. The harvest is small with not many vessels having licences. There used to be a commercial dive fishery for them but its no longer open. Those guys were crazy as they would be doing long dives in 100 to 120 feet of water to harvest them. They are not available in numbers at shallow depths that I would want to dive. The dive fishery was mostly around Galiano at least the guys I knew.

 

[Dogbreath]

Love those swimming scallops-closer to a clam than the archetypical chunk of pure white meat but delicious for all that.

 

[seahorse]

We picked up a bucket of swimming scallops from a farm in Baynes Sound a few years ago while we were out prawning, awesome seafood.

 

[Eden Island]

We used to pick them up on a sand bottom -- in about 100' of water. We were diving in the Victoria area, so places like 10 Mile Pt, Chain Islands, Ogden Pt breakwater -- probably lots of other places too, but that was in the 80s!

 

[Fisher Down]

a friend picked up some fresh scallops from the Fishermans wharf... OMG were they good! has anyone found a spot around comox where someone could scuba or snorkel to harvest some? I know they're around in deep water as I've snagged a few while jigging bottom

Years ago, we used to gather both rock scallops and spiny/swimming scallops around Nanaimo, but our area has been 100% closed for decades. DFO shows only 14-5, 14-8, & 14-15 as being open for scallops (inside and south of Denman). See https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/tidal-maree/a-s14-eng.html

Happy bubble-making,
FD