Although scallops are found in coastal waters all around Australia, it’s in Tasmania that they first became a regional specialty. Scallops formed part of the diet of Tasmanian Aboriginal (Palawa) people and, from the earliest days of Tasmanian settlement, were likely being gathered by colonists from beaches around Hobart town. In the 1860s, Hobart cookbook author Edward Abbott wrote that scallops were “similar to those caught in England, plentiful on the sandy beaches but rarely brought to market”.

The fishery was initially recreational, although newspaper accounts suggest that many of these “recreational” fishers depended for income on selling at least part of their catch. Scallop fishing with dredges developed later in the 19th century and quickly had a deleterious effect on the scallop beds in Hobart’s Derwent River estuary. By 1896, there was concern that the beds were being fished out, and the Commissioners of Fisheries declared a closed season for scallop fishing from November 1 to March 31. The following year, a new regulation under the Fisheries Act required scallop fishers to be licensed.

Most accounts suggest that the commercial fishery in Tasmania didn’t really get underway until the 1920s, although significant quantities of scallops were available in the Hobart market by 1905. In 1907, the Fisheries Board decided to impose a two-year closure on the scallop beds for a large part of the Derwent estuary. The pattern of over-fishing and closures has continued to this day.

By 1911, further regulations stated that scallops could only be taken by rowed boats. A licence fee of five shillings for each dredge was imposed. That year, there were 32 licence applications. In the 1920s, scallop fishing largely moved to the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, south of Hobart. Tasmanians embraced the scallop as their specialty dish, with an enthusiast writing in The Mercury in 1922:

One of the little pleasures of eating, which hundreds, if not thousands, of Hobart citizens would not lightly forego between April 1 and September 30, is the “eleven o’clock scallop.” Whether served daintily in the half-shell with bread-crumbed top, or curried or plain in a saucer, according to taste, it has become a recognised local dish, and is known by many visitors from mainland States, and elsewhere. Hobart is unique in the respect that the beds of the Derwent estuary yield by dredging endless quantities of this succulent bivalve, in a manner not similarly known in any other spot in close proximity to a large population and unpoluted shores. …No wonder care was taken to serve it up to the Prince of Wales on his recent visit…

It is a poor man’s food as well as a rich man’s diet…Of recent years a industry has arisen…Hundreds upon hundreds of thousands are gathered in the season, and at many a house in Hobart they are delivered several times a week, whilst at hotels, boarding houses and public houses, they are taken daily. In some of the latter they are given free from elevel a.m. (as long as the supply lasts), in conjunction with a modest glass of ale. In no other city in the world does the like happen.

Through the 1930s and 1940s, scallops became even more popular, with the 1930s  seeing the emergence of  Tasmania’s famous scallop pies. The fishery reached a peak in 1945 when a record 500,000 lbs (about 226,800 kg) of scallop meat were harvested in the short season between 1 May and 15 August. Subsequent years saw the catch decline, however, and in 1950, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that this was making the shellfish more expensive. The article quoted the CSIRO’s Fisheries Division, which warned that the industry was endangered by overfishing. It reported that Tasmania had a virtual monopoly on commercial scallop fishing, although worthwhile beds had been discovered on the east coast of Victoria in 1947.

Before 1950, the entire catch was taken from the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. For the next two decades, the harvest was mainly from beds of Tasmania’s east coast, and the fishery largely moved to Bass Strait in the 1970s. The D’Entrecasteaux Channel has been closed to scallop fishing since 2011 and, as late as 2024, the beds had not shown signs of recovery. Surveys are regularly conducted to determine whether stocks are healthy enough for fishing to resume.

Commercial scallop fishing in Victoria did not begin until the early 1970s. It can take place right along the coast, but not in the bays and inlets, with the main centres being Lakes Entrance and Port Welshpool. In 1986, management of the Bass Strait Scallop Fishery was split between the Commonwealth, Tasmania and Victoria under an Offshore Constitutional Settlement, with areas up to 20 nautical miles off the coasts managed by the States, leaving the Commonwealth responsible for the remaining area. A commercial fishery in Port Phillip Bay was closed down in 1997.

There are three types of scallops harvested in southern Australia: the commercial, or Tasmanian, scallop, the doughboy scallop, and the queen scallop. The commercial scallop is the most commonly sold, usually with its orange roe attached. Queen scallops, hand-harvested by diving off Kangaroo Island, South Australia, are prized by the restaurant industry and distinguished by their alarmingly purple roe.

In Queensland and Western Australia, the larger saucer scallop is generally sold with the roe removed. In Western Australia, saucer scallops occur along most of the coast, but the main fisheries are in the Shark Bay and Abrolhos Islands areas, with limited fishing occurring as far south as Esperance. In Queensland, scallop fishing is focused from near Townsville south to the area east of K’gari (Fraser Island).

All scallop fishing in Australia is subject to careful management, with limited seasons and frequent closures to allow stocks to recover. This makes the local product rare and expensive. As a result, it’s estimated that around 90 per cent of the scallops sold in Australia are imported from countries such as China, Japan and Peru.