November 7, 2014 — According to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, commercial fishermen were harvesting an average of 300,000 pounds of scallop meat annually between 1966 and 1984, contributing to over $4 million a year to the state economy.
During that time, the Peconic Estuary accounted for 25 percent of all bay scallops harvested in the United States, according to The Nature Conservancy.
The abundance of fresh shellfish supported nearly 100 pop-up scallop shops, which dotted roadways across the East End, longtime bayman Charlie Harvey, 74 of Greenport, recalled.
Mr. Harvey still makes a living off nearby bay waters.
“My father ran a big scallop shop down at the end of Sixth Street in Greenport. Boats could come right into the bulkhead,” he said. “There sure was a lot of people doing it … and back in them days we sailed, we didn’t use power [boats]. You had to depend on the wind.”
But the summers from 1985 to 1987, and again in 1995, brought change, as a harmful overgrowth of algae known as “brown tide” choked Peconic Bay waters of oxygen, killing the shellfish and eelgrass that were unable to escape it.
“[Brown tide] hit so heavy you couldn’t even see through it,” Mr. Harvey said. “When I pulled them out of the water, all the scallops had died.
“I can remember my father going out on opening day and coming in with just three-quarters of a bushel of scallops. And that was a whole day’s work.”
Read the full story at the Suffolk Times