The world-wide interest in the commercial potential of scallop is reflected by the considerable investment of shellfish farmers in developing new production and management techniques, as well as improving existing ones.
Natural scallop production presently supplies most of the world markets, as it has always done. As a result many traditional resources have been over-exploited, and most research has been channeled justifiably towards scallop fisheries management techniques. This was clearly manifested at the Sixth International Pectinid Workshop in the United Kingdom in 1987 (Beaumont and Mason, 1987). Participants presented information on natural and fishing mortality, recruitment, yield per recruit and catch per unit effort. However, the collection and cultivation of scallop spat by farming techniques continue to increase, and are rapidly providing an alternative source of scallop for the international markets.
