State Extends Bay Scallop Season

Good news for seafood lovers and harvesters alike: Scallop season has been extended in state waters, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced on Friday. 

Bay scallop harvesting was extended by a month and will end in state waters on April 30. 

"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 ice in February,"  Joe Martens, the D.E.C. commissioner, said in a statement. His department said fishermen "lost a significant portion of their income potential during the winter." 

With New York's bay scallops primarily located in Peconic and Gardiner's Bays on the East End, the extension may help East Hampton fishermen.

"I guess it's good," Danny Lester of Amagansett said of the news, but he said most baymen, like himself, are getting their pound traps ready at this point. By the end of March, he said, "It is more lucrative now to get ready for fishing season, at least for me anyway."

While it's true he and others lost income this winter, Mr. Lester said fishing "is where our gravy is, and the scallops are a bonus, being that we went without them for so long." From 1985 to 1994, the bay scallop populations on the East End were depleted by a repeated brown tide algae bloom. Bay scallop restoration efforts and changes to the opening date to allow for spawning helped restore the populations. 

"Also, you have to remember," Mr. Lester said, "that the scallops are dying now and the meats may not be as big. A scallop only lives about 18 months." 

The D.E.C. said legal-sized adult scallops will not make it to the normal November season opener and will die before the summer spawning period. Juvenile scallops, too small to take, will not be affected by the extension, meaning the spawn for next year's harvest will have a chance to thrive. 

The total bay scallop harvest has increased in recent years, though it has not reached the heights it had — about 300,000 pounds harvested per year— before 1985. Last season, over 100,000 pounds of bay scallops were harvested with a value of $1.5 million, the D.E.C. said. Just a year earlier, only 32,000 pounds were havested. The 2014-15 season was expected to be another banner year, according to state officials.