The Atlantic sea scallop fishery employs a rotational closed area st rategy designed to increase future yield-per-recruit and spawning potential due to fast growth observed by scallops afforded protection from fishing pressure. It is unclear how well th e analytical models that underpin this strategy hold under conditions that deviate from long-term averages , such as the high-density recruitment events observed in 2012 in the Nantucket Lightship and 2013 in the Elephant Trunk. The scallops at these sites persisted at high densities and initially exhibited varying degrees of impacted performance. The effect of scallop density on growth, yield, and reproduction was investigated through quarterly sampling trips in 2018 and 2019 with sampling at 21 sites divided among high, medium, and low-density scallop beds. In addition to total catch and length data, 30 scallops were retained at each site to determine meat, viscera, and gonad weights along with sex and reproductive stage. Reproductive effort was quantified as the ratio of gamete production to total production to investigate how this metric differs across population density. Overall, scallop density was an important factor in predicting reproductive effort , with scallops at the extreme densities observed in the Nantucket Lightship exhibiting reduced reproductive effort compared to the traditional densities found in the resource. Reproductive activity also occurred over a shorter window in the Nantucket Lightship, where the percentage of scallops staged as mature or spawning reached 50% during only one of the seven sampling trips (Figure 1). A subset of female scallop gonads collected during sampling is currently being examined to investigate impacts on fecundity, egg size, and egg quantity, further clarifying the effects of density on reproductive success.