French scallops break new abundance records

DR French scallops set new abundance records

Well managed and less fished, scallop populations have reached new abundance records in 2024 in the two main French deposits, with exploitable biomass even jumping by 56% in the Seine Bay, Ifremer announced on Tuesday. 

In the Seine Bay deposit, “the abundance of scallops has reached a new historic record this year”, underlines the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer) in a press release. 

The total exploitable biomass, i.e. the quantity of scallops measuring 110 mm or more, is estimated at more than 137,000 tonnes, a level that shatters the previous record set in 2022 at 105,000 tonnes. 

This exploitable biomass is thus up by almost 56% compared to last year. 

“These results demonstrate the success of the management measures implemented in the Bay of the Seine since 2016,” emphasizes Ifremer. “The introduction of a rotating fallow has not only allowed a significant increase in the scallop population over the past 8 years, but also a relatively even distribution of the biomass between the different areas of the bay.” 

In the Bay of Saint-Brieuc (Côtes d'Armor), the exploitable biomass is estimated at more than 64,200 tonnes, including scallops over 102 mm, the minimum regulatory size in force until now.  

But this regulatory size is increased to 105 mm from the 2024/25 fishing season, which brings the exploitable biomass to 58,250 tonnes (+5% compared to 2023). 

The total biomass in the bay, all ages combined, exceeded 94,000 tonnes this year, an increase of 3%, i.e. “a new record over the last 63 years”. 

Ifremer explains this new record by “the efforts put in place by French fisheries”, in particular “the overall reduction in fishing effort by setting fishing dates and times and improving the selectivity of gear with the use of larger dredging rings”. 

Two campaigns are conducted each year by Ifremer on the two main French scallop beds to assess populations and ensure good management of the resource. 

The fishing season officially started on October 1st in the Bay of Seine and on October 2nd in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc. 

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