Scup Is One of Massachusetts’ Most-Caught Fish. So Why Is It Still Underrated?

By Paul Taylor, Editor, ScupFish.com · Published September 9, 2026

Massachusetts fisheries officials say millions of scup are caught in the state every year. New information provided to ScupFish shows just how important the fishery is — and what scientists are watching next.

Ask a Massachusetts saltwater angler to name the fish that define the state’s recreational fishery, and striped bass will probably come up first. Black sea bass, bluefish and perhaps tuna will not be far behind.

Scup may take a little longer.

That is surprising when you look at the numbers.

Massachusetts anglers caught an estimated 2.7 million to 5.2 million scup per year from 2021 through 2025, according to information the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries provided to ScupFish. They harvested between 1.4 million and 2.6 million annually.

Those numbers put scup among the four most frequently caught fish in Massachusetts, alongside striped bass, black sea bass and Atlantic mackerel. By number of fish harvested, scup ranks in the top two.

Yet even some experienced anglers still treat scup as something they catch while fishing for something else.

Massachusetts fisheries officials think that sells the fish short.

“The scup fishery is under-valued!” DMF staff told ScupFish. “These fish are delicious, fun to catch, and widely available from shore or vessel.”

And while scup remain abundant, there are some interesting changes occurring beneath the surface. After years of exceptionally high stock abundance, scientists are now watching recruitment closely for clues about what anglers might encounter in the years ahead.

Where Massachusetts’ Scup Come From

The scup that fill Massachusetts bays and sounds each summer aren't there year-round.

They spend the winter offshore in Mid-Atlantic waters and begin migrating into Southern New England in spring as water temperatures rise above about 50 degrees. Scup generally prefer water between approximately 55 and 75 degrees.

In Massachusetts, that means the heart of the fishery is in southern coastal waters.

DMF identified Buzzards Bay, Vineyard Sound and Nantucket Sound as the state's primary areas of scup harvest. Fish generally become abundant there from May through September, although some travel north of Cape Cod and into the Gulf of Maine during summer.

Those southern Massachusetts waters aren't merely feeding grounds.

They're also spawning habitat.

Scup spawn from May through August, with spawning peaking in June. Smaller scup tend to favor shallower water, while the species as a whole can be found over both structured and soft bottom.

That seasonal cycle helps explain something anglers may notice every year.

Larger fish tend to migrate inshore first during spring to spawn. Smaller fish arrive later. By summer, young-of-the-year scup can become extremely abundant in southern Massachusetts waters before heading offshore for winter.

Nearly 50 Years of Massachusetts Survey Data Shows a Remarkably Consistent Pattern

Massachusetts has an unusually long record for observing what happens beneath the surface.

DMF has conducted spring and early-fall trawl surveys annually since 1978, with the exception of 2020.

Despite enormous changes in the abundance of scup over that period, DMF says its survey hasn't detected meaningful long-term changes in the fish's size distribution, seasonality or geographic distribution.

What has changed dramatically is biomass.

“The biomass has boomed over the past 20-years and we are coming off record high years,” DMF told ScupFish.

The surveys also provide a fascinating picture of how the population changes during a single fishing season.

During the spring survey, scup generally range from about 6 to 14 inches, with most between 8 and 12 inches. By the fall survey, DMF still encounters some larger fish, but most are only about 4 to 6 inches.

Those little fish aren't simply undersized adults hanging around all year. The fall numbers reflect the influx of juveniles and young-of-the-year scup produced during the late spring and summer spawning period.

DMF also told us its largest survey catches have generally occurred in water 31 to 60 feet deep. While scup occasionally appear in survey tows north of Cape Cod, the agency says it has not found evidence of a widespread expansion into the Gulf of Maine.

Scup Abundance Has Come Down From Record Highs

This is where the current scup story becomes more complicated.

Scup spawning stock biomass recovered in the early 2000s and has remained above the stock threshold since 2002. It then reached record highs roughly between 2016 and 2022.

Since then, estimated biomass has declined.

That sounds alarming without context. It shouldn't necessarily be interpreted that way.

DMF says the stock remains at a high level of abundance, with spawning stock biomass still more than double its target.

But scientists are watching what happens next.

In 2023 and 2024, scup experienced below-average recruitment for the first time since the late 1990s. In fisheries science, recruitment refers broadly to new young fish entering the population at the age or size measured by an assessment.

DMF says the reason for the recent weak recruitment is unknown.

If smaller year classes mature without being followed by stronger ones, spawning stock biomass would be expected to decline further.

Massachusetts' own surveys are seeing evidence of that change.

From 2023 through spring 2026, scup catches in both the spring and fall surveys were below their 2022 peak. DMF says that points to declines in both adult fish, represented more strongly in the spring survey, and juvenile fish, represented more strongly in fall.

But there's an important qualifier:

Survey catches remain above the long-term average.

And there may already be another development worth watching.

DMF recorded an increase in scup during its fall 2025 survey compared with 2023 and 2024. The agency says that could indicate a new recruitment pulse.

The next clue should come from this fall's survey, when scientists will be looking to see whether another pulse of juvenile scup appears.

For anglers, that is one of the most interesting scup stories to watch over the next few years.

Scup Isn't Just a Fish People Catch by Accident

The sheer scale of the recreational catch challenges another common perception about scup.

Scup certainly get caught while anglers are targeting other species. They're aggressive around bait, abundant near shore and often easy to catch.

But the Massachusetts numbers show this is also a substantial recreational fishery in its own right.

DMF estimates that anglers caught between 2.7 million and 5.2 million scup annually during the past five years. The agency attributes the fish's popularity partly to its abundance, proximity to shore and willingness to take bait.

Those same characteristics also make scup important for beginners.

DMF says scup are the first catch for many new anglers and can become particularly important recreationally when populations of other popular species decline.

There's also an interesting gap between catch and harvest.

Only about half of the estimated recreational scup catch is ultimately kept.

DMF's recreational survey doesn't record why individual fish are released, but officials say likely explanations include undersized fish, anglers releasing smaller legal fish in hopes of keeping larger ones, and scup being caught while targeting another species.

Why Shore Anglers Can Keep Smaller Scup

Massachusetts' scup regulations contain an unusual distinction that makes much more sense once you understand how people actually catch the fish.

The minimum size for shore anglers is smaller than it is for anglers fishing from vessels.

That wasn't accidental.

When states needed to constrain recreational scup harvest in 2023, Massachusetts anglers—particularly those in the for-hire sector—preferred increasing the minimum size rather than making larger reductions to the bag limit.

But an 11-inch minimum applied everywhere would have hit shore fishermen especially hard because they generally encounter smaller scup.

Massachusetts therefore increased the vessel minimum to 11 inches while reducing the shore minimum to 9.5 inches. ScupFish also has a practical guide to checking current scup size limits and seasons.

DMF says environmental justice was also part of the decision.

Shore-based fishermen are more likely to come from less advantaged socioeconomic groups and neighborhoods and may not have access to boat-based fishing opportunities. The lower shore minimum was intended to provide those anglers better access to fish they could legally bring home.

The state's for-hire rules have their own history.

For-hire anglers receive a two-month “bonus” season, currently May 1 through June 30, during which the possession limit is 40 scup rather than 30. The provision dates to 2004 and was designed partly around the economic importance of allowing charter and party boats to market trips where customers could bring home fish.

Massachusetts puts the bonus period in May and June because that's when larger scup are particularly available to the state's anglers and for-hire boats target them.

Massachusetts Has Scup Quota It Has Trouble Catching

The commercial side of the fishery contains another seeming contradiction.

Scup have been extraordinarily abundant, yet Massachusetts has often failed to catch its full commercial quota.

Part of the explanation goes back more than 30 years.

State-by-state scup allocations were based on commercial fishing activity from 1983 through 1992. At the time, Massachusetts permitted practices including pair trawling, night trawling and small-mesh nets. Those fisheries produced large scup landings, resulting in Massachusetts receiving 21.6% of the summertime scup quota.

Today's Massachusetts fishery looks very different.

Pair trawling and night trawling are prohibited, and—with a seasonal exception associated with the squid fishery—state-water trawlers use a 6.5-inch mesh cod end.

DMF says those changes were made for reasons including gear and user-group conflicts, enforcement, compliance and reducing discards and discard mortality. But they also reduced the commercial fleet's ability to catch the state's scup allocation, particularly as the stock and resulting quotas grew.

Economics adds another constraint.

During summer, scup are primarily targeted commercially by rod-and-reel fishermen and fish potters in Massachusetts. Their steady landings generally aren't sufficient to take the entire quota.

DMF says scup's ex-vessel price, while improving recently, has typically ranged from around 50 cents to a little over $1 per pound.

Did Tilapia Help Push Scup Off the Seafood Counter?

Perhaps the most unexpected part of DMF's response to ScupFish had nothing to do with fishing.

It was about the seafood market.

DMF says seafood dealers who were operating during the 1990s have suggested that scup lost market share to farm-raised species including tilapia and barramundi.

The timing mattered.

As aquaculture production of those species was growing, scup itself was undergoing rebuilding and was subject to restrictive quotas. Demand for that style of fish could instead be satisfied consistently by farm-raised alternatives.

When scup abundance eventually recovered, winning that market back proved difficult.

There have been efforts to change that.

DMF specifically pointed to attempts to market scup as “golden sea bream,” along with flash-freezing techniques intended to develop stronger markets.

Officials are hopeful that improving ex-vessel prices during 2025 and 2026 are a sign those efforts may be having some success.

It's an interesting irony: fishermen have access to an abundant wild fish off the Massachusetts coast at the same time that the commercial market has struggled to convince consumers to value it.

Why Commercial and Recreational Scup Rules Can Look So Different

DMF also identified one persistent source of frustration among recreational anglers: the belief that commercial and recreational fishermen are being managed inconsistently.

There are real differences, but the agency says much of the apparent discrepancy results from fundamentally different management systems.

Commercial scup fishing is principally controlled through a hard quota. Recreational fishing is managed through combinations of bag limits, minimum sizes and seasons intended to achieve a target level of harvest.

That can create situations that look contradictory from the dock.

A recreational harvest target might increase without anglers receiving a larger bag limit, longer season or smaller minimum size. If managers already expect the existing rules to produce the newly increased harvest target—for example because a strong year class is entering the fishery—there may be no need to liberalize the regulations.

The additional recreational allocation is still real even though an angler doesn't see an obvious rule change.

What Massachusetts Scientists Are Watching Now

For all the interesting issues surrounding markets, regulations and fishing access, DMF's answer about the biological future of the fishery was remarkably simple:

Recruitment.

The 2023 and 2024 year classes were below average despite spawning biomass being near record levels.

Some year-to-year variation is normal. But if weak recruitment continues for several additional years, DMF says Massachusetts could see a downturn in stock biomass and potentially reduced fishing opportunities for both recreational and commercial fishermen.

That's why the possible recruitment pulse detected in fall 2025 is worth watching.

It doesn't mean anglers should be worried about scup today. The stock remains highly abundant, and Massachusetts survey catches remain above their long-term average.

It means that a fishery can be healthy today while scientists simultaneously watch the young fish that will determine what it looks like tomorrow.

Maybe Scup's Biggest Problem Is Its Reputation

After answering questions about nearly 50 years of survey data, recruitment, regulations, commercial quotas and seafood markets, DMF gave ScupFish a much simpler answer when we asked what Massachusetts anglers don't appreciate enough about scup.

“The scup fishery is under-valued!”

That may be the best summary of the entire story.

Scup are accessible from shore. They're abundant enough that beginners have a realistic chance of success. They're willing biters. They're excellent on light tackle. And they're good to eat.

DMF put it this way:

“Some more experienced anglers might see being ‘easy to catch’ as a negative, but most folks fishing in Massachusetts want to have fun and be successful.”

The agency called scup “the perfect fish for a great day with the family” and pointed out that properly cared-for scup can make an excellent meal—“fish tacos, anyone?”

For a fish that Massachusetts anglers catch by the millions every year, perhaps scup doesn't need to become more successful.

It just needs more people to notice how successful it already is.

This article is based on written responses provided to ScupFish.com by Jared Silva, Senior Policy Analyst with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, working with colleagues at DMF. ScupFish thanks Silva and the DMF team for providing detailed information about the Massachusetts scup fishery.