The sea scallop is pretty amazing for a bivalve. People may say "happy as a clam," but they mean simple as a two-shelled-fish stuck in the mud.

Not the sea scallop. It flies on a water jet (a short distance anyway) created when a big muscle snaps its smooth, 6-inch shells shut. That allows it to escape predators such as starfish.

But it can't move far or fast enough to escape the dredges of fishing boats, which want that big, round, shell-snapping muscle - a delicacy in much demand by seafood lovers.

That puts sea scallops among the other marine resources subject to the tragedy of the commons, in which lots of independent fishing companies pursuing their own interests destroy what should have been a sustainable stock and nearly put themselves out of business.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City >>

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