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First scallops

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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JohnDennehy

Well-Known Member
May 22, 2006
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I just had my first experience catching scallops while freediving in Kerry. It's hard to explain to friends who don't dive what it was like. Maybe somebody here will understand...

A friend of mine pointed me to a small bay where he said he saw lots of scallop shells. I took my mask, snorkel and weight belt on a kayak and found the spot. The bay is too small to dredge which is good. After about an hour of diving down about 15 ft in beautiful clear water all I was finding was empty shells. On the way back to the kayak I noticed the outline of a scallop half buried in sand. I had no idea what I was even looking for but this looked interesting.

I dived down about 20 ft and when I grabbed the shell I was thrilled to feel the weight of a full scallop. I think I left out a whelp of joy underwater if that's possible.

I went up and down for about half an hour and took up 12 large scallops. An hour later they were in the pan with butter. Absolutely amazing experience and beautiful food.

I later read that a) there are lots of scallops off the coast of Cork and Kerry, and b) that there's a lot of poison in them. Ek. Don't know how true that is but any info would be appreciated. After reading up more on how scallops are typically dredged I think I'll hold off on buying them again unless they're hand picked.

If you're ever picked your own scallops you're surely understand the absolute joy. If you haven't done so, do yourself a huge favour and do it.
 
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I'm sure my experience wasn't as serene, me being in a relatively dirty river, but I grabbed a freshwater clam once and ate it. It was full of sand, but nevertheless a cool experience.
 
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Scallops are filter feeders, so would concentrate any toxins picked up by plankton. It should require pretty nasty water conditions to be a big problem. What you describe sounds quite clean.
 
Hi in jersey we need a scallops permit BUT it is so much fun .Have you been looking for lobster or crabs?
 
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