When you live on an island, healthy harbors mean everything.

Our mission is to preserve and protect Nantucket’s harbors, water quality, and shellfish resources.

We believe that through education and collaboration we can elevate the issues facing our waters and work towards meaningful change.

We protect the last commercially-viable wild-caught bay scallop fishery. We advocate for the responsible enjoyment of our harbors and shellfish by all.

Learn more about our recent work in the Annual Report:

2023: A celebration of twenty years, a commitment to the future

Follow our journey…

Our favorite thing about a Leap Year? An extra day of scallop season!! #nantucketbayscallops
The Lone Scalloper // The harbor is pretty quiet this time of year but a few fishermen still head out each day for their five bushels of bay scallops. It’s a long, chilly season so some sunshine this week was a treat! 📸 @lydonroofing
Nantucket Bay Scallops are our love language 🥰 on the menu at @brotherhoodnantucket for Valentine’s Day whether you want to treat yourself or someone you love! 💕
Hey friends! @nantucketshellfish needs a home! 🏠 We’re looking for office space for our team. It could be one large room we outfit for a few people or a small commercial space with a few offices. We’re flexible on move-in date but ideal
We’ve been having some wild high tides and flooding here on the island. At some points, the water was so high that boats were inaccessible. Thank you to @nantucketcurrent for sharing these photos in their morning newsletter today! We hope a
Dredge find Friday! A little sculpin found himself in a scallop dredge recently. They are a bottom dwelling species and are relatively inactive. Most species of sculpin live in shallow waters, preferring colder climates. They are nocturnal predator
🚩 The first freezing day of the year means the red flag is up today! 🚩 Scalloping is prohibited when air temps are below 28° F 🚩 This is to prevent juvenile scallops from being shocked by the cold when they are pulled up by dredges and sort
Good morning 2024 ✨ Our New Year’s resolution is always to preserve and protect Nantucket’s harbors and shellfishery. ✨ We look forward to another wonderful year sharing the beauty & bounty of our harbors with our community. ✨
It's a Saturday, so why are commercial scallop boats out? Christmas is the only holiday that scalloping is closed for. So when it falls on a weekday, they are allowed to fish on the following Saturday. Since Christmas was on a Monday this year, the f

The Nantucket Shellfish Association is grateful for the support of our presenting sponsor: