I happened to catch two of our scallop draggers (dredgers) moored at Naskeag Harbor in the friendly late light yesterday. Above, is TARRFISH, a traditional Down East lobster boat with added mast, boom. drag (dredge) and winch for winter scalloping. Below, is CHRISTOPHER-DEVIN III rigged similarly, but she’s a “Novi” (Nova Scotia) vessel, a design favored by our neighbor to the north.
The scallop rigging soon will disappear as the boats get spruced up for summer lobstering. Maine’s scallop dragging season has ended in some areas and will end state-wide on March 31, unless the regulators decide to do something unexpected. Some diving for hand-harvesting scallops in wet suits will be allowed into April, unless sustainability requires closure. David Tarr, the owner of TARRFISH, is a scallop diver as well as a dragger. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on March 28, 2026.)