For Release: September 29, 1998

Contact: Richard Sisson 222-3075 or 789-3094

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management has announced that the bay scallop harvesting season opens Saturday, October 3, 1998 at sunrise. Residents may take up to one bushel of scallops per day without a license, and commercial license holders may take up to five bushels per day/per boat from state waters. Non-license holders cannot offer scallops for sale. The season ends December 31, 1998 at sunset.

For the protection of scallops and bottom habitats from dredge damage, scallops may be harvested by dip-net only from a boat until November 15^th in all of the following areas: Narrow River, Pawcatuck River, Little Narragansett Bay, Point Judith, and Potter, Green Hill, Charlestown, Quonochontaug, and Winnapaug Ponds. Since bay scallops commonly live to be only 20 to 26 months old, dredging will be allowed in those areas beginning November 15 to access remaining adult scallops residing in deeper waters that will ultimately die if left unharvested.

Harvest of bay scallops with diving apparatus is also prohibited in Charlestown, Green Hill, and Quonochontaug Ponds until November 15. Harvesters are reminded that possession of seed scallops is prohibited. Legal scallops possess a defined raised annual growth ring.

Last year, DEM's Division of Fish and Wildlife received limited funding for stocking bay scallops in the south shore coastal ponds. About 80,000 hatchery-reared seed were planted in selected areas of Point Judith, Potter, Green Hill, Charlestown, Quonochontaug, and Winnapaug Ponds. Scallops were monitored for growth and survival throughout the year and exhibited minimal mortality and excellent growth rates, according to April Valliere, principal marine biologist for the Division.

According to Valliere, the Division is in the fourth year of a bay scallop restoration project in Naragansett Bay. Hatchery reared scallops and scallops from spat collectors have been transplanted to selected areas of the bay and monitored for growth and survival. Previous year's scallop planting has produced small sets of bay scallops in adjacent areas, most notably Greene's River, Coggeshall Cove, Hog Island, Bristol Harbor, Wickford Harbor, and Dutch Harbor. Scallops were released after a season of monitoring hatchery-reared seed in cages at Sheep Pen Cove on Prudence Island, Hog Island, and at Third Beach in Middletown. Juvenile scallops were also planted last fall around Rose Island, the T-Wharf and Potter's Cove on Prudence Island, Wickford Harbor, and Green's Bridge in Newport.

Hatchery-reared scallop seed from Fisher's Island, New York will again be planted in selected areas of Narragansett Bay in the final year funded for this project. A small amount of funding is also being made available for seeding the coastal ponds for the second consecutive year.