Welcome Scallop Surprise

If enough harvesters take up a surprise opportunity provided by the state, fresh local bay scallops could again be in supply this month.

We have been very critical of the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation over the last few months, but this is one thing that the stressed agency has gotten right. Normally, scallop season in state waters, those outside the bays and harbors, which are controlled by the East End towns’ elected trustees, would have ended on Tuesday.

Instead, in a nod to an especially hard and cold winter, from about the end of January to now, the agency announced that scalloping could continue through April. Since scallops have a fleeting lifespan of just two years, those of legal size were not likely to survive until the water warms later this spring and summer when spawning begins. And, for those harvesters looking for a modest financial bonus, the limited fishery could be a needed boost.

This policy change, albeit temporary, shows that the D.E.C., for all its painful budget cuts and staff losses, can still be responsive. In the long term, however, there are questions about its function and whether it can really be, in its depleted condition, the kind of environmental watchdog New York needs. That it cannot is evidenced by local governments now taking the lead on important initiatives, such as groundwater quality, nitrogen runoff, and habitat protection. Far more should be done in Albany to restore the D.E.C.’s funding to pre-Great Recession levels. For now, however, we’ll take the scallops, and hope that lawmakers eventually return environmental protection and remediation as among the state’s the highest priorities.