For Release: October 1, 1999

Contact: Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management has announced that the bay scallop harvesting season opens at sunrise tomorrow, Saturday, October 2, and closes at sunset on December 31. Rhode Island residents may take up to one bushel of scallops per day without a license. Commercial license-holders may harvest up to five bushels per day, per boat from state waters. Non-license holders may not offer scallops for sale.

In order to protect scallops and bottom habitats from dredge damage, scallops may be harvested from boats using only dip-nets, until November 15 in the following areas: Narrow River and the Pawcatuck River; Little Narragansett Bay; and Point Judith, Potter, Green Hill, Charlestown, Quonochontaug, and Winnapaug Ponds. Since bay scallops commonly live for only 20 to 26 months, dredging will be allowed in those areas beginning on November 15, in order to access remaining adult scallops that reside in deeper water.

Harvesting 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 stocked bay scallops in five south shore coastal ponds. Hatchery-reared seed were planted in selected areas of Point Judith, Potter, Green Hill, Charlestown, and Quonochontaug Ponds. According to April Valliere, DEM principal marine biologist, a small portion were held in protective cages and monitored for growth and survival throughout the year. "While the growth rate of the scallops was promising," Valliere said, "mortality rates were high during the spring and summer. Observations of spotty populations have been made in several areas; however, visibility has been limited due to the recent extensive rainfall."

Scallops were also planted last year in selected areas of Narragansett Bay, in the final year of a bay scallop restoration project funded by the Narragansett Bay Commission. Hatchery-reared scallops and scallops from spat collectors have been transplanted to selected areas of the bay and monitored for growth and survival over the past five years. According to Valliere, previous years' scallop planting produced small sets of bay scallops in adjacent areas, most notably in 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 Newport. Other areas planted over the duration of the project include Rose Island, the T-Wharf and Potter's Cove on Prudence Island, Wickford Harbor, and Green's Bridge in Newport. Last fall, scallops were again planted on eelgrass beds in Wickford Harbor, Hope, Gould, and Prudence Island, and on the east side of Jamestown.