Scallops are Big Business

One morning recently as the sun was just tinting the snowcovered tops of the Tasman Range, we climbed aboard Jack Cotton's trawler and a few minutes later we joined the small procession of trawlers making out to sea. This procession takes place nearly every morning. We were off to dredge for scallops, that delectable shellfish so keenly sought after throughout New Zealand. Nelson has the main scallop waters in the Dominion and their potential is somewhere about 130,000 lbs of meat annually. That's quite big business. The pix reproduced on these two pages will give readers some idea of the way this industry is operated. Pictures other than those taken at sea, were of the Associated Fishermen's factory.

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Bill Harvey with a tray of cleaned scallops

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Off to the scallop beds

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A dredge-type net is lowered by Jack astern of the trawler and the trawl, for about an hour, commences.

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With high hopes the net is winched out of the sea, its contents dumped on deck, and the net returned while the scallops are washed and packed.