BY ROBERT KINKEAD

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

It’s a near-innocuous business story.  Good news about fishing off Cape May, wherein that port has been named the second most prosperous on the East Coast because rising scallop prices have offset diminishing catches of shellfish.

The report, from the National Marine Fisheries Service, is cited in the Sept. 26 business section of The Star Ledger, which notes that Cape May trails only legendary New Bedford (of whale hunting fame in days of yore) on the East Coast and ranks fifth nationally.

At first, this might seem like a beneficial development. However, what the report fails to indicate is the ominous reason that scallop prices are rising and catches are diminishing.

These details are vitally important for two reasons: First, increased revenues are due to the growing scarcity of scallops, in turn attributable to a complex change in the predatory food chain off the coast of New Jersey; and, second, because my wife tried to order a scallop dish at Poor Henry’s Restaurant in Montville the other night and was told, “we don’t have any scallops today,” by the waitress.

Scallops grow in virtually all coastal areas around the world and they are a prized seafood wherever they are found.  They are more complex than their oyster cousins. They can actually swim by rapidly opening and closing their shell, a technique they often practice to escape from predators. And, scallops have primitive eyes, about 100 tiny, light sensitive organs around the outer edges on the mantle of their shells.

The scallop shell serves as the model for the logo of the Royal Dutch Shell Corporation, purveyors of gasoline throughout the United States and around the world.

According to Wikipedia, by far the largest wild scallop fishery in the world is the Atlantic sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) found off the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.  And, according to the Marine Fisheries Service, this wonderful resource is in sad decline.

This decline is not caused by foul waters, or the dumping of nasty chemicals, or even by overfishing of scallops. No, the decline is caused by overfishing of sharks, the ocean’s top predator.

Not the little dog sharks or sand sharks that casual fishermen often hook off the Jersey Shore.  The critters  that matter are the really fierce sharks: the Tiger Shark, the Great White, the Bull Shark, the Hammerhead, and similar very large creatures at the very top of the maritime food chain.

Of course, these leviathans of the deep have no interest in munching on the lowly scallop. However, one of their preferred victuals is the Cownose ray, a wing-like creature closely related to the Sting ray and the Skates.

The Cownose is a bottom feeder that voraciously scoops up scallops, oysters and clams as it patrols the Eastern Seaboard. Fewer sharks has resulted in a population explosion of these kinds of  bottom feeders.

A story in the October, 2012 edition of Scientific American details the connection between the overfishing of large sharks on the East Coast and the devastation of certain shellfish, notably bay scallops.The story entitled “Ecosystems On The Brink” outlines the intricate and highly complex interactions between species large and small that are being scientifically examined to determine their long-term effects on an extensive list of worldwide environments.

These large sharks provide abundant meat, which may not be especially popular in the United States, but which is highly esteemed by gourmands in Asia and many other areas.

According to Wikipedia, the majority of shark fisheries have little monitoring or management. The rise in demand for shark products is responsible for major declines in shark stocks.  Some species have been depleted by over 90 percent over the past 20 to 30 years with population declines of 70 percent not unusual.  Many governments and the UN have acknowledged the need for shark fisheries management, but little progress has been made due to their rising economic value.

Most shocking to many Americans is the practice of “finning” sharks, i.e. cutting off their fins and dumping the crippled sharks back into the ocean to suffer an agonizing death.  The fins, which sell for about $300 a pound, are used to make shark fin soup, a dish that originated in Asia. Few governments are known enforce laws that protect sharks from this practice.  In 2010 Hawaii became the first U.S. state to prohibit the possession, sale, trade or distribution of shark fins.

Just for the record, more people are killed by errant golf balls on the links than are killed by shark attacks around the world.