April 9, 2013 — Ancient, blackened shells found on Assateague Island, the barrier island separating Sinepuxent and Chincoteague Bays from the Atlantic Ocean, as well as those collected throughout the bays during Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) hard clam surveys, provide ample evidence that bay scallops have inhabited this region from time to time.
The Maryland coastal bays are a series of interconnected shallow lagoons extending along the entire Atlantic coast of the state and linked to the ocean by two narrow inlets (Figure 1). In the past, bay scallops in these bays have occurred episodically, tied to the ephemeral openings of inlets and the resultant changes in the salinity regimes and habitat in this lagoonal system. Ancient, blackened shells found on Assateague Island, the barrier island separating Sinepuxent and Chincoteague Bays from the Atlantic Ocean, as well as those collected throughout the bays during Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) hard clam surveys, provide ample evidence that bay scallops have inhabited this region from time to time.
Unlike oysters and hard clams, which have commercial landing statistics and anecdotal information about them from this region dating to the mid-19th century, records on bay scallops prior to the 1900's are not found in period publications (Earll 1887; Ingersoll 1881, 1887; Murphy 1960). However, their presence or absence may be inferred from accounts of inlets. While no inlets existed in the northern bays during the latter half of the 1800's, a series of inlets opened and closed in Chincoteague and lower Sinepuxent Bays (Truitt 1968; Counts & Bashore 1991). The last of these transient inlets, Green Run Inlet in mid-Chincoteague Bay, existed for about 20 years (Truitt & Les Callette 1977) and probably provided adequate salinity for bay scallops. After it closed by the 1880's, the coastal bays were left with only one opening to the ocean, at Chincoteague, Virginia – the southern extreme of the system. Consequently, salinities dropped to the point that oysters, and by inference bay scallops, could not be supported north of Chincoteague Bay (Grave 1912). Nevertheless, the Virginia portion of Chincoteague Bay, in close proximity to the inlet, maintained higher salinities along with lush eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows inhabited by bay scallops (Henderson & Bartsch 1914). A lucrative bay scallop fishery (1.4 million pounds landed in 1930) developed during the 1920's, based around Chincoteague Island, Virginia (Fieldler 1931; Gutsell 1930). Due to the steep salinity gradient in Chincoteague Bay, the scallop population in Maryland likely was small and restricted to just above the Virginia state line. There were no reported landings in Maryland during this period (Fieldler 1931, 1932, 1933).
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