My name is Scallop, but I am a Sea Scallop!
Scallops, belonging to the bivalve mollusks, bivalve oysters, commonly known as meta-shells or strips, and in the northern region of China, it is generally called fresh shellfish.
In Canada, there are many varieties of scallops, but its commercially caught scallop species are dominated by Sea Scallop, which is also widely caught in the United States.
This is a photo of a scallop living in the sea
Seascallop's Chinese scientific name is Magellan Sea Fan Clam, Latin name: Placopecten magellanicus Group, English common name: Giant sea scallop, King scallop, Canadian scallop. This scallop is also one of the most consumed scallop varieties in the United States.
Body structure diagram of the Magellan sea fan clam
The shell column of the Canadian scallop is what we commonly call the belt, is it much larger than the common one in China?
Comparison of Canadian scallop tape and hand
The Magellanic Sea Fan Clam is mainly produced on the Atlantic coast of North America. It is generally called Seascallop or Kisscallop in the U.S. market.
If you exclude the scallops farmed in China, it should be regarded as the world's largest consumption of scallops, of course, its production is also ranked first among wild scallops.
Global distribution range of magellan sea fan clams (data source FAO)
Map of global production of magellan sea fan clams (data source FAO)
Comparison of Magellanic Sea Fan Clam Production in Canada and the United States (data from FAO)
In Canada's wild scallop inshore fishing, Nova Scotia alone accounts for about 80 per cent of the national total. Among them, digby scallops are the most famous, one of the most important commercial shellfish in Canada.
The town of Digby is well located
Digby, recognized worldwide as the most important port in the Bay of Nova Scotia, is blessed with its location and accessibility, while the water level is deep and does not freeze all year round. At the same time, there is also a world-famous scallop fishing fleet, and the famous Digby scallops are harvested and processed by them and transported around the world.
Digby is known as the "Scallop Capital", the scallop fishery is very active, and it is famous for scallops. If you stroll along the waterfront at Digby Harbour, you'll see piles of scallop shells. The scallops here are unique, its beautiful and unique round shell is unforgettable at first sight, and the shell is very large, and the diameter can even reach 20 cm.
The beach covered with shells is very romantic
The shell of the Digby scallop, oversized, right?
Fishing of Canadian scallops
Canadian scallops, which prefer to live on the rocky or sandy seabed attached to the shallow Atlantic Ocean, grow in waters between 10-384 meters in depth, so the span of fishing is large. Canadian scallops can live up to 21 years and grow for 4-5 years to grow to the size of commercial catches.
Scallop living environment
The Canadian scallop fishery is mainly divided into offshore fishing and offshore fishing.
Offshore scallop fishing vessels
Offshore fishing is mainly like the local fishermen in the small town of Digoby fishing in small boats in the offshore (as mentioned in the video at the beginning of the article).
The scallop fishing method in the small town of Digby is very distinctive. Long chains are attached to the fishing vessels using towbars, with trawls of rakes and plows attached to the chains, which are dropped after the fishing vessels arrive at the prescribed fishing sites. The fishing boat then travels at a low speed of about 20 minutes along the pre-detected scallop catch zone. At the same time, the trawlers brought the scallops all into the basket and were caught.
It can be said that this fishing method has the obvious and strong regional characteristics of DIgby, so it is called "Digby Drag".
Schematic diagram of digby Drag's fishing method
Digby Drag fishing rake plows
In order to prevent fishing vessels from catching immature scallops, the Canadian Fisheries Department stipulates that the minimum amount of scallop shells caught must not be less than 7.5 cm, and that the meat of every 45 scallops (without shells) must not be less than 500g. Therefore, the scallops caught by the trawler need to be manually screened, and the non-target catch and scallops that do not meet the specifications need to be thrown back into the sea for release.
In order to ensure the interests of Fishermen in Canada's offshore waters, fishing quotas for large companies are often allocated to the far seas, so large fishing companies like Clearwater often use large scallop fishing vessels for offshore fishing.
Atlantic Protector, a Canadian wild scallop fishing vessel
Classification of wild scallop fishing areas in Canada (Data source: Government of Canada website)
The excellent quality of Canadian scallops is mainly due to the strict management of the fishery in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Every year, the Canadian government and local fishing associations will hire a third-party professional organization to conduct scientific research on the reproduction of scallops in each fishing area, and then provide a scientific survey report. After hearing from major scallop fishing companies and fishermen's representatives, the quotas and sizes of Canadian scallops are determined.
Offshore fishing and processing of Canadian scallops
The trawls of large scallop fishing boats are very strong, and the trawls are equipped with tires on both sides, which can not only help the vessel to tow the trawler more conveniently, but also slightly drag the trawler away from the surface of the seabed, so as to avoid the great damage caused by the trawls to the seabed to a certain extent. At the same time, the trawling is also specially equipped with a stone discharge to help remove stones that have mistakenly entered the net, and the trawl also has the function of filtering and cleaning scallops.
Large fishing boats use trawls to catch scallops
Between 2000 and 2009, annual catch quotas for offshore scallop fisheries averaged about 7 000 tonnes (excluding scallop shells), falling to 6 175 tonnes in 2010 and 6 368 tonnes in 2012. Of these, southwestern Nova Scotia accounts for about 80 percent of offshore scallop catches.
Canadian scallop catch (Source: Government of Canada website)
On 25 March 2013, scallop fisheries in the eastern waters of Canada received ecological certification from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) as a sustainable, well-managed fishery. It is the first scallop fishery in North America to receive MSC sustainability certification.
At present, the main export markets for Canadian scallops are the United States and France. It is worth mentioning that Canada and France have also fought lawsuits in the WTO because of the name of scallops. On March 22, 1993, the French government published a regulation restricting the use of the trade name of Canadian scallops with the scientific name Placopecten magellanicus in the French market. The Regulations stipulate that Canadian scallops may use the name "pétoncle (Saint-Jacques)" (meaning small scallops) until December 31, 1995, and only the name "pétoncle" is authorized thereafter. The latter is a low-grade, low-price scallop in the eyes of French consumers. This provision significantly weakened the competitiveness of Canadian scallop products in the French market and reduced the volume of trade in the product. The Government of Canada considers the measure taken by the Government of France to be unjust and undermines Canada's due interests under the WTO agreement. The two countries consulted several times with the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), which ended with the French Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food drafting new regulations abandoning the special name requirement for Canadian scallop products.
Scallop processing in Canada
Once the Canadian scallops are caught, they are immediately handhulled on the ship, then rinsed in salt water, then sorted and frozen in the assembly line, packaged and transported to the cold chain around the world, so that the original sweetness of the scallops can be maintained to the greatest extent.
Workers hand-hull the scallops on the boat and soak them in brine
The shelled scallops are processed on an assembly line
After packaging, it will be delivered to your table as quickly as possible
Digby Scallop Festival Canada: A Scallop Feast, a Foodie Spree!
Every year on the second weekend of August, the Canadian town of Digby's Scallop Days, known for its scallop fishing, hosts digby's Scallop Days. Countless tourists will come to the small town of Digby on this day to taste delicious wild scallops and take part in a variety of fun activities with the locals.
Canadian Digby Scallop Festival poster
The Digby Scallop Festival is the oldest festival in the region, on which people celebrate the harvest of scallops and offer blessings to the warriors who go out to sea to catch scallops, although the theme of the celebration is different every year, but it is always related to scallops. On this day, local restaurants cook delicious scallops, and the shops sell frozen scallop meat or other scallop-related souvenirs.
On the morning of the Scallop Festival, people begin to march to celebrate the beginning of the Digby Scallop Festival, where you will see people of all nationalities and occupations in Canada celebrating the Scallop Festival.
Crowds marching at the Digby Scallop Festival in Canada
The Digby Scallop Festival also holds a beauty contest to select the queen of scallops, and many girls will wear dresses or wedding dresses to participate in the beauty pageant on this day (there are also many girls who come from out of town to participate in the competition!). ）
Girls running for Digby Scallop Queen
The lady elected Queen of scallops will become the ambassador for Digby Scallops and will be responsible for the promotion of Digby Scallops in Canada. (Xiaobian tells you a secret, want to see more Digby Scallop Queen can go to the official website of the Digby Scallop Festival, say hello in advance, the aesthetics of foreigners and Chinese are not the same yo!) ）
2015 Digby Scallop Queen
At dusk, the park is also filled with naval academy cadets performing a flag-lowering ceremony, a ceremony dating back centuries to remind the people who planted crops outside the city to return home in time and to arrange for night guards to take their weapons in case of an accident.
Naval cadets who held a flag-lowering ceremony
In order to hold the celebration, the cannons of the museum were pulled out
Residents of Digby, Canada, celebrate the Digby Scallop Festival
Canadian scallops: not afraid to fry and boil, a sweet and mellow
Canadian scallops are not only rich in protein and vitamins, very conducive to human absorption, the taste is also naturally sweet and delicious, suitable for sashimi, but also can be fried, boiled soup, the taste is very good!
Think it's too hard? Let's start with a very refreshing little fresh recipe – salad!
Canadian ribbon salad
ingredient
1 to 2 pounds Canadian ribbon salad, cooked and frozen
1 rinsed and dried medium coarsely chopped cabbage
2 bales of chopped green onions (with white and green parts)
2 cups crushed Roman (plum) tomatoes
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Tabasco hot sauce
Prepare salt and pepper to taste
method
1. Freeze all ingredients. Mix into a large bowl and mix gently.
2. Serve as soon as possible with warm, crispy bread strips.
Plating
Decorate with fully boiled eggs.
This article is the original article of "Eight Fresh Crossing the Sea". Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.