Scallop season opens Saturday

By Carrie A. Mizell

Wipe the dust off the mask and blow the spider webs out of the ‘ole snorkel; scallop season opens this Saturday, June 25, and runs through September 25.
In support of Governor Rick Scott, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) added three weeks to this year’s bay scallop season. The governor anticipates that the extended season will relieve Florida’s fishing communities that suffered hardships from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, which occurred last year.
The open scallop area along Florida’s Gulf coast stretches from the west bank of the Mexico Beach canal in Bay County to the Pasco-Hernando county line.
According to regulations, the limit on scallops is two gallons of whole scallops in the shell or one pint of scallop meat per person. No more than 10 gallons of whole scallops in the shell or one-half gallon of scallop meat can be aboard any boat at any time.
A Florida saltwater fishing license is required to harvest scallops by boat.
This season, FWC is asking scallopers to assist researchers by completing an online survey at http://svy.mk/bayscallops.