For Release: October 2, 1997

Contact: Richard Sisson 277-3075

Stephanie Powell 277-2771 ext. 4418

PROVIDENCE - The RI Department of Environmental Management has announced that the bay scallop harvest season opens Saturday, October 4 at sunrise and continues until December 31. Residents can take up to one bushel of scallops per day without a license and commercial license holders can take up to five bushels per day/per boat/per license from state waters. Non-license holders cannot sell their scallops. Harvesters are reminded that possession of seed scallops is prohibited. Legal scallops possess a defined, raised, annual growth ring.

To protect scallops and bottom habitats from dredge damage, scallops can be harvested from a boat only by dip-net until November 15th in the following areas: Narrow River; Pawcatuck River; Little Narragansett Bay; and Point Judith, Potter, Green Hill, Charlestown, Quonochontaug, and Winnapaug Ponds. Since bay scallops commonly live only 20 - 26 months and will ultimately die if left unharvested, dredges will be allowed in those areas beginning November 15 for harvesting remaining adult scallops residing in deeper waters. Harvesting bay scallops with diving apparatus is also prohibited in Charlestown, Green Hill, and Quonochontaug Ponds until November 15.

DEM's Division of Fish and Wildlife is in the third year of a scallop restoration project in Narragansett Bay. Hatchery reared scallops and scallops from spat collectors have been transplanted to selected areas of the Bay and monitored for growth and survival. Scallops planted in previous years produced small sets of bay scallops in adjacent areas, most notably Greene's River, Hog Island, and Bristol Harbor.

Recently, scallops were released after a season of monitoring at Sheep Pen Cove on Prudence Island, Hog Island, and at Third Beach in Newport. Juvenile scallops were planted last fall around Rose Island, the T-Wharf and Potter's Cove on Prudence Island, Duck Cove in North Kingstown, and Green Bridge in Newport. The Coastal Fisheries Lab encourages anyone recovering scallops in the Bay to report their findings to the Lab at 783-2304.

DEM's shellfish survey work has been concentrated on assessment of the quahog population and bay scallop restoration work in Narragansett Bay; therefore, no scallop surveys were conducted within the coastal ponds this year. However, its Division of Fish and Wildlife has received anecdotal reports of small populations of scallops in Charlestown and Point Judith Ponds.