Scallops Keep Cape May Number 2 E. Coast Port

Helped by rising scallop prices, Cape May landed more than $100 million worth of seafood last year, making it the second most valuable port on the East Coast, and the fifth nationwide.

A report from the National Marine Fisheries Service shows the port, which includes docks in Lower Township and Wildwood but none actually in Cape May, took in $103 million last year. That's up from $81 million in 2010.

Cape May trails New Bedford, Mass. among East Coast ports.

The Press of Atlantic City reports scallops are its primary catch. Their price rose last year from $7.92 per pound to nearly $10 a pound.

That's the price paid to the fishing vessels, but the value of the catch rises at least six fold before the seafood reaches consumers.