New Scallop Gear in Fishery Tool Box

by Mike Crowe

Northern GOM scallops have been rebounding following revised federal management efforts in recent years. Likewise scallop beds inshore along the Maine coast are responding to a closely monitored regime of harvest limit closures, rotational closures and limited access areas.

Cameron Hodgdon, a research assistant at the University of Maine, said the 10-year trial rotational scallop closures in Zone 2, which began in 2009, are intended to give scallops time to grow to market size. During the season, one-third of the areas in the zone is in year one of a two-year closure, one-third is in year two of a closure and one-third is open to fishing. Harvest limits and seasonal closures based on volume leave spawn recruitment levels high enough for regeneration.

Tim Sheehan, a biologist from Pembroke in eastern Maine has been selling marine life specimens to research facilities since 2002 from his business on Cobscook Bay. He has also been a clam, scallop, elver, and seafood dealer for the past six years. From his science-based angle of view, all of the marine species are part resource and part habitat. “A sponge is just a sponge until a herring or squid lays its eggs on it and then it is essential habitat,” said Sheehan. He said he sees all the organisms as part of the health of the marine ecosystem, whether they are directly targeted by fishermen or so-called bycatch. He thinks the health of all species on the seafloor is in everyone’s best interest.

A few years ago, Sheehan began thinking about the effects of bottom dragging on the ecology of his local bay. He wondered if there might be some sort of gear that would be easier on the bottom and perhaps more selective. “Seeing benthic creatures washing up on beaches during the fall and winter drag seasons led me to search the internet for a possible solution,” said Sheehan. It was three years ago that he found a company in Scotland, Deeside Marine, that was working on such a dredge. He contacted owner/inventor Richard Gidney to inquire about his new scallop dredge called N-Viro dredge.

In the 1990s-2000s, Richard Gidney owned and operated a large fleet of scallop boats in Kirkcudbright, southwest Scotland. His vessels towed scallops year-round in waters all around the U.K. In response to pressure from environmental groups and facing a grim economic reality, Gidney saw that something had to be done to change the gear and make the fishing of the scallop resource more sustainable. He designed a lower-impact, efficient, smaller, lighter and more easily maintained scallop dredge. Rather than using fixed teeth or a cutting-bar, his invention dredge-fishes with spring-loaded tines similar to what might be seen on a hay rake or hay baling machine.

Sheehan and Gidney struck a deal. Gidney would provide test dredges for free, if Sheehan would pay the shipping. A few months later, four dredges arrived in Boston and were shipped to Washington County to Sheehan’s company Gulf of Maine, Inc. Sheehan said, “I thought my wife was going to kill me. It was like I’d traded our cow for some magic beans, only these beans cost us $4,000 in shipping, brokers, and customs charges.” The gear was here and now it was time to see how it worked for fishing Gulf of Maine sea scallops.

“The initial fishing trials and reception by local scallop fishermen has been great,” said Sheehan. “Teea Tinker of Lubec and Butch Harris of Eastport really helped us get the gear tested and proven. Without their innovative attitude and lack of fear we would never have gotten anywhere,” said Sheehan. After demonstrating that N-Viro dredge would work, a first container of 50 dredges, parts, and tow-bars were delivered to Pembroke in late summer of 2016, in time to gear up for the upcoming season.

Jim Hanscom, of Bar Harbor, invested in the new gear. Hanscom said, “It only catches scallops. No broken shellstock, rocks, or bottom debris. The spring-loaded tines flick scallops into the bag. Because the rig is relatively lightweight there is no rollover of the boat and the boat doesn’t get beat up the way it does with heavier chain sweep gear.” Hanscom has a 42’ boat, which had been rigged for shrimp. Some of that lighter shrimp rigging was used for the N-Viro dredge. He fishes a triple rig of N-Viros towed behind a rubber dolly-wheeled tow-bar for a total fishing width of 7.5 feet, which weighs in (empty) at about 800 pounds – a large reduction in gear weight compared to a chain sweep drag.

Butch Harris fishes out of Eastport and uses both the N-Viro and traditional chain sweep gear. He said the N-Viro was very good on hard bottom. “You don’t get as much trash; it’s real easy to tow so it’s also good on gas. I tow at an idle, about 2 1/2 knots,” said Harris.

Sheehan said he’s been asked by fishermen if he is on a mission to get rid of the chain sweep gear. “Quite the contrary,” said Sheehan. “The N-Viro is not the perfect mousetrap. It’s another tool that a fisherman can use. It doesn’t fish well on all bottom types, but can be used to a fisherman’s advantage. It’s just another tool in the toolbox.” Sheehan said, “When this dredge is hauled back it is all legal scallops – that’s all that’s in the bag. This saves crew time and it’s easier on the bottom. The juvenile stock stays on the bottom.”

The dredge system has modular compatibility with all N-Viro parts and pieces. All parts are interchangeable. Weighing 200 pounds per dredge, spare frames can be carried on deck and used to swap out parts and pieces if there has been gear damage. “If one or two of the individual dredges gets ‘hung-down’ and damaged, the damaged gear can be swapped with a spare dredge and get back to fishing,” Sheehan said.

Jim Hanscom said the tines on his triple rig were looking worn recently this winter while he was fishing. Rather than bring his boat back to the dock for maintenance he moved into the lee of an island. He said, “I easily replaced all the tines on-deck in 40 minutes and was back towing the daily quota.” Sheehan said he has sold 60 N-Viro dredges to fishermen in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and Nova Scotia.