Scalloping in Mutsu Bay

When you think of products that come from Aomori, the two things that come to mind are apples and scallops (called hotate in Japanese). The afternoon portion of last week's reporting tour took place in Noheji, a town about an hour east of Aomori City. It sits on the very southern coast of Mutsu Bay, where the majority of Aomori's (and Japan's) scallops come from.

The scallop, a tasty little mollusk!

Anatomy of a scallop. Everything but the dark digestive gland is edible.

We arrived at a small building labelled JF, which is the local fishery organization. There, we met two fishing boat captains and their crew, who then ushered us onto their boats. We happened to arrive during the local summer festival, so one of the ships was still adorned with the bright flags displayed during the boat parade.

We boated out into the open sea of Mutsu bay for about 5 minutes before stopping in front a of a field of floats and buoys. The captain and crew explained that they were markers for the scallop lines, which is where the scallops are hung and farmed. I was under the impression that we were going to be catching wild scallops from the sea floor, but apparently it's much more complicated than that.

The captain explained the basic life cycle of a scallop. They start out as little tiny transparent larvae, which fall to the sea floor and slowly grow larger and more opaque with time. The farmers nurture these teeny tiny scallops in mesh bags into their adolescence.

Baby scallop on the left, more mature scallop on the right.

Baby scallops in their mesh bag.

When they get big enough, they have a hole drilled into the bottom corner of their shell and have a string attached to them. They're then hung onto a 10 meter rope, which are then placed into the bay. The captain said that placing them too deep would make them susceptible to predators, like rays or starfish, lurking on the sea floor. Meanwhile, the surface of the ocean is too choppy for the scallops to gather their main food source, plankton.

The hotate life cycle and farming process.

In Mutsu Bay, scallops are farmed both from hanging on ropes and more naturally on the sea bed. We wanted to see the farming methods themselves, but since it was festival season, fishing was prohibited and we didn't actually get to see anything. However, as a consolation, the captains gave us all a big box full of scallops to take home, and then set up a big scallop barbecue for us to enjoy!

At the barbecue, the fisherman taught us how to open the scallops with a special spade-like tool and how to prepare it. Of course, you can eat the abductor muscle and mantle portions as sashimi straight out of the shell. You can also throw them onto a grill and cook them in their own shells.

Grilling in the shell, called kaiyaki.

Mmm, yummy!

With that, we all went home with a big box of fresh scallops to eat for the next several days. I've been eating scallops for the last three nights, and now I'm craving some red meat! See you again!



青森の名物と言えば、２つの物が考えられます：林檎とホタテ。先週の交流会の午後部分は野辺地「のへじ」と言う所で行いました。野辺地町は青森市から車で一時間かかって、むつ湾の南湾岸にあります。
JFと書いてある小さい建物に着きました。船長の二人に船に案内されて乗りました。夏祭りの途中でしたので、派手な旗が立っていた。
 
むつ湾に５分船を乗って、浮きがいっぱいの所に止まりました。このブイはホタテが着いているロープのマーカーと船長に聞きました。私がホタテを狩るとか釣ると思ったんですが、実はホタテはそれより複雑です。

ホタテの赤ちゃんは小さくてクリアーなラーバです。もっと大きくなるまで、たまねぎのメッシュ袋に育てます。少しずつ大きく黒くなります。

大きくなった後、ドリルを使って殻に穴を開けます。糸でホタテを１０メートル長さの紐にくっつけて、湾に出します。深いところに捕食者（エイ、海星）がいっぱいいて、浅はかな所は三角波でプランクトンを食べれなくなる。
 
こんな方法で育てることがあって、もっと自然に海洋底で育てる方法もあります。もうちょっとじっくり見たかったけど、夏祭りが行って魚釣りが禁止になりました。変わりに、船長たちがホタテ取り放題をさせてくれました！それだけでなく、貝焼きパーティーもやってくれました！

BBQでホタテの調理仕方を教えてくれまして。ビデオの中の人がとても上手で簡単に一発でひもを取りました。貝焼き方も見せていただきました。うっまい！