The scallop season opens on the 1st of September and it will be interesting to see the conditions of the beds within the Bay of Islands.
In previous years the beds have been poor with calls from some people to close them. Others have suggested to the former Ministry of Fisheries that even though the numbers of scallops are low, the beds will always recover because they start breeding below the legal size limit and so can never be wiped out. Over the last couple of seasons they seem to have recovered partially. As you head further north there are good scallop beds out from Matauri Bay, Whangaroa Harbour and Doubtless Bay.
Scallops are the favourite seafood of many people, including me, and I find it hard to beat a scallop, lightly fried in butter, and then piled high in a sandwich. Pure decadence!
When it comes to diving for scallops, having a good boatman as your top cover is essential. My preference is to have them follow my float so they are close by when I surface. It's not so much of a problem in September but in the summer months the scallop beds are in the main boating highways and a dive flag can be hard to spot. So keeping the boat close is a good plan.
You are allowed to take 20 scallops per diver and up two lots of 20 for the safety people who are accompanying the diver. So if you have two divers, a skipper and a spotter, you can collect 80 Scallops. Remember the size limit is 100mm across the shell. As a scuba diver you are expected to measure on the bottom as you put them into your catch bag. Free divers are allowed to measure on the surface. It's also a good idea to measure again when you get back on the boat and all scallops consumed are meant to be included in the catch total.
If you are thinking of taking a few extra over the limit, quite frankly I wouldn't because if you're caught the fines can be large. All the equipment involved in the collection can be confiscated and that means the dive gear, the boat and the car that tows the boat.
If you haven't been diving for a while it's a good idea to get your dive gear checked by a certified service technician. If it's been in storage for a while make sure you give the second stage a good clean. There are plenty of stories of divers inhaling anything from cockroaches to spiders and you could even discover a Mason Bee has made its home in your regulator mouth piece.
It's easy to make sure your gear is in good working order because most Bay of Islands dive shops offer a free service checks.