In this paper, the social and academic background of introducing the bay scallop Argopecten ir-radians and the processes of the introduction, industrialization and restoration of germplasm are reviewed, its economic and social benefits and effects on the resource of native species, ecology and´ environment of farming areas are discussed, and prospects of the introduction engineering are forecasted. In the late 1970s, to relieve the decline in Bohai Sea and Huanghai Sea mariculture industry, the U.S. bay scallop was introduced as a restorative measure. On the basis of the development of a series of successful artificial breeding and grow-out technology, the world s first scallop culture industry had its footing in China´s shallow sea regions. The bay scallop transplants in the South China Sea and East China Sea also showed satisfactory results. The restoration of germplasm to cultured stock of bay scallop brought about the sustainable development of the scallop culture industry.

The natural bay scallop populations have not been found in the farming areas of China, so there is no hazard of adverse effects of bioinvasion. The ecological and environmental effects of introduction engineering are the large-scale biodeposition where it is farmed, resulting in self-pollution. However this has no direct relationship with the incidence of mass mortality of Chlamys farreri reported in recent years. Above all, the introduction engineering of the bay scallop, targeted to meet the national socio-economic needs, has brought about immense socio-economic benefits, and uplifted the international status of China´s shellfish research. It is expected that the introduction engineering of the bay scallop has bright prospects of its sustainable development as an industry and will bring about profound and lasting benefits to the country ´s marine economic development.