Before reading further, you should know two things. First, if you’re not interested in scallop fishing equipment, stop reading this esoteric and overly-long post now. Second, I’m far from being an expert on that subject, but I keep getting questions about it and we have here an opportunity to try to identify a few things.
Above, is the fishing vessel (“F/V”) Tarr Baby, which is owned by neighbor David Tarr. She’s now “trawler” rigged with metal “mast” and “boom” (aka “outrigger”) and “winched” for “dredge” scalloping.
The dredge is a steel-framed, chain mesh “net” that has a twine top for unloading; it’s dragged along the sea bottom. (See below.)
As you can see in the first image, Tarr Baby also has a drop-down diving/boarding platform on the stern that David can use when he’s hand-harvesting “divers scallops” in SCUBA gear. Just above that platform is a stack of perforated plastic “fish baskets” (mostly orange) in which the harvested scallops can be collected before their muscles (what we eat) are shucked out and possibly for temporary onboard storage of those shucked muscles.
Behind the baskets in the first image is a metal “trap rack,” which can be used to secure stacks of lobster traps when Tarr Baby is transporting them at the beginning and end of her lobstering season. Here's an image of her during the early summer with stacked traps that soon will be taken out to sea and submerged:
(Brooklin, Maine) If I made any mistakes, I welcome corrections.