DEC extends scallop season one month to help baymen recoup after icy winter

A decision by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to extend the bay scallop season by a month is getting a local round of applause.

The move, which extends the season until April 30, is seen as a boon to local baymen, many of whom struggled during the long, frigid winter and felt the impacts financially.

“I think it’s a great thing,” said Charlie Manwaring, owner of the Southold Fish Market. “There’s a lot of product out there, and I think it’s great for the guys. They’ve had a pretty rough winter, and weren’t able to go out for about six weeks, with all the ice. That beat them up financially.”

Manwaring also commended the DEC for allowing for an extra month; he’d anticipated only two weeks. “They lost six weeks, and they’re giving us four, so that’ll give the guys a chance to scoop up some of the profit they’ve lost.”

The extension, he added, “is great for all the local baymen, and those guys that have their commercial licenses but only do it once in awhile.”

As for customers, Manwaring said they’re happy to have the scallops around for another month, especially with fishermen still bringing in four or five bags, even this late in the season. “It’s good,” he said. “These are the guys who would have usually gone out clamming, but they’ll stay scalloping, because they make more money with scallops. It gives the local creeks a break. As long as we keep catching scallops, it’s a win-win for everyone.”

Ken Homan, owner of Braun Seafood in Cutchogue, agreed. “We’re happy. Scallops only live a few years, so the resource would be wasted” if the season wasn’t extended. “It’s a good thing for baymen, for the fish market, and for all of us who can enjoy them another month. It’s a shame to see it go to waste.”

Also, he agreed that the extra month would help fisherman “recoup the losses” they’ve suffered over the brutal winter.

All in all, Homan said, “It’s been a great year for everyone. For consumers, prices have been cheaper than normal and for the baymen, they’ve had a great year, with decent prices for the volume they’ve caught. In the commercial chain, it’s one of those rare years when everyone involved with scallops has been very happy.”

New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele thanked the DEC for their “swift decision to extend the open season for bay scallop harvesting one additional month to April 30.”

Thiele lobbied on the baymen’s behalf. “The significant ice-over of some of the most productive scallop grounds in the Peconic put our baymen out of work for weeks. By extending the scallop season in state waters for one additional month, our baymen will be able to make up for lost time,filtering money back into our economy.”

Beginning in November, locals were singing the praises of the current year’s bumper crop of Peconic Bay scallops.

Manwaring said favorable conditions, such as the cold winter and a cool summer, had a lot to do with the abundant harvest. “We usually see baby scallops in April, and we didn’t see much then. A lot of what we’re catching must have been a late spawn. Mother Nature came in and did her thing.”

Last year, Manwaring said, the season was a stark contrast. “Last year, we had them for two or three days and it was over.”

This year’s banner harvest has been a welcome sight after last year’s disappointing season, Homan said. “Last year, they all died before the season started. It looked good, but all the scallops had died. This year, they’re all good.”

The DEC filed emergency regulations on March 27 to allow for a one-time extension of the open season, possession and sale restrictions for bay scallop harvest by one month for 2015 only.

“The extension of the bay scallop season from March 31 until April 30 is critical to maximizing the income potential by commercial harvesters and to mitigate financial hardship caused by extensive icing of local embayments this winter that have prevented bay scallop harvest in Peconic Bays since early February,” DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said. “Extending the open season by one month will provide for increased revenues by commercial harvesters, shippers and local seafood markets while ensuring the viability of bay scallop resources in state waters.”

New York’s bay scallop resource is primarily located in the waters of Peconic and Gardiners Bays, the DEC said. The open season for bay scallop harvest is the first Monday in November —this year, it kicked off on November 3— and traditionally ends on March 31.

Bay scallop harvest has been on the increase in the past few years providing a new source of income for commercial shellfishermen during the late fall and winter months. In 2014, bay scallop landings were just over 100,000 pounds with a dockside value of $1.5 million as compared to 2013 landings of only 32,000 pounds.

The 2014 bay scallop landings represent the highest annual harvest reported since 1985, the DEC said. This year’s bay scallop season opened in November with more than 100 boats working in the Peconic Bays and was expected to be a fruitful year for bay scallop harvest.

The record cold temperatures this winter caused widespread freezing of East End embayments preventing commercial harvesters from undertaking bay scallop harvest in most areas of Peconic Bays for up to five weeks, the DEC said. Some of these areas in Peconic Bays are still inaccessible due to ice, the DEC added.

Bay scallops only live about two years. Because of the bay scallop’s short life span, legal-sized adult scallops will likely die before the summer spawning period and will not survive for the opening of the next season in November. The juvenile “bug” scallops would not be affected by a one-month extension of the open season for 2015 since they are not large enough to be legally taken this season and will represent the spawning and adult population for next year’s harvest, the DEC assured.

Historically, the DEC said, the bay scallop harvest on the Peconic Bay averaged about 300,000 pounds per year and provided commercial harvesters with a significant portion of their income in the late fall and winter months.

However, the bay scallop population on the East End was hit hard from 1985 through 1994 due to the brown tide, repeated blooms of the harmful algal blooms.

State law was amended in 2005 and subsequently, the DEC adopted regulations in 2006, to delay the opening date of the bay scallop season by three weeks to allow for growth, maturity and spawning potential  to be maximized before scallops could be harvested.

Additionally, bay scallop restoration efforts have been undertaken in Peconic Bays to jumpstart the resource and help to restore the resource, the DEC said.