July 20, 2017 — The waiting has been the hardest part.
One month after the first of the state’s zones were opened, 25 days after the second zone was opened, the bay scallop harvest season in St. Joseph Bay arrives Tuesday, July 25.
The season continues through Sept. 10.
Bag limits, constrained in 2016, return to the statewide limits and all other requirements reset to 2015.
Surveys conducted last month by researchers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission indicated the scallop population in St. Joseph Bay is on the rebound.
Researchers survey more than 12,000 square meters of the bay during the adult surveys, this year finding that counts were more than three times, in terms of density, what they had been in June 2016.
The number of stations where scallops were found also increased.
More critically, researchers were pleased with the spread and concentration of mollusks of such desire this time of year.
Of the four major areas surveyed by the FWC, St. Joseph was the only zone that realized an increase in the density of the adult population; three of the four saw an increase in the number of survey stations where scallops were present.
“They are doing good,” said the FWC’s Amanda Nalley in reference to the scallops of St. Joseph Bay. “They are not back yet, but they are improving.”
The zone’s boundaries are the west bank of the Mexico Beach Canal and the westernmost of waters of St. Vincent Island National Wildlife Refuge.