Here you see the Fishing Vessel Tarrfish in Naskeag Harbor during yesterday’s rain. She still has her mast and boom up, but they’re used only in the dredging (“dragging”) part of the Atlantic scallop season, which ended last month.
Nonetheless, we’re in the last few days of the scallop diving season, which is when “divers’ scallops” are hand-harvested on the sea bottom by courageous (some might say crazy) winter swimmers. The diving season ends here in three days, April 29.
David Tarr, the Captain and owner of Tarrfish, traps lobsters in the summer and both drags and dives for scallops in the winter-spring. He reports that “overall the [scallop] season was good. The catch was good, the price was decent, and boats were pretty well spread out.” By staying spread out, the fishing vessels don’t disturb each other’s dragging paths or otherwise get too close for dredging comfort. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 25, 2023.)