Peconic Bay scallop season likely to be sparse, but there's hope for the future
One-year-old bay scallops from a spawning sanctuary off of East Marion are seen in May, 2024. The 2026 fishery for Peconic Bay scallops is likely to be another sparse one, but signs of a resurgence next year are on the horizon, researchers say. Credit: Randee Daddona
The 2026 fishery for Peconic Bay scallops that opened Monday is likely to be another sparse one for the scores of baymen who rely on the shellfish for winter income, but signs of a resurgence next year are on the horizon, researchers say.
Population surveys by the Cornell Cooperative Extension over the summer and fall months show that adult scallops have once again largely vanished from the 21 sites where researchers have surveyed the bay bottom in recent years.
It’s the seventh year Peconic Bay scallop adults have largely absent from waterways, likely the result of a parasite that targets the swimming mollusks as well as genetics that make them vulnerable.
But Harrison Tobi, a Cornell Cooperative Extension aquaculture and shellfish restoration specialist who has led research and restoration of the scallops, said that as the season begins, there’s cause for hope for the fishery. That’s because he and others testing bay sites from Flanders to Hallock have found unusually large numbers of juvenile scallops, he said.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- The 2026 fishery for Peconic Bay scallops that opened Monday is likely to be another sparse one, but signs of a resurgence next year are on the horizon, researchers say.
- Population surveys by the Cornell Cooperative Extension over the summer and fall months show that adult scallops have once again largely vanished from the 21 sites where researchers have surveyed the bay bottom in recent years.
- But researchers say there’s cause for hope for the fishery. That’s because an unusually large numbers of juvenile scallops have been found at sites from Flanders to Hallock.
Juvenile scallops represent the future stock for next year’s spawning of new scallops and, when they’ve finished breeding, the bulk of the adult scallops that will make up the landings by Long Island baymen from the western Peconic Bay to Shelter Island and beyond.
"There were no adults in our surveys," Tobi said via phone Friday. "They are out there, but I wouldn’t say it’s going to be a bountiful year."
But, he added, "We’re founding thousands of juveniles across all surveys." One 50-meter survey line showed 178 juveniles, he said. Some of those survey lines, including one near Robins Island, had no juveniles at all in past years. "We haven’t found juveniles for the last couple of years," so the findings give researchers hope that the population is on the rebound, he said.
What could it mean? "This year may be a bust, but next year could be a boom," Tobi said.
While it’s still too early to say what led to the juvenile resurgence, Cornell has been increasing the diversity of its spawner sanctuary in Orient Harbor, where long lines of buoyed lantern nets hang with adult scallops that release eggs and sperm into the East End waters. Those spawners are from waters as far away as Martha’s Vineyard as well as nearby Moriches Bay and their home Peconic Bay. All contain variations of genetics that Cornell believes could increase diversity enough to protect future generations from the known parasite. In year’s past, most scallops for spawning came from Peconic Bay alone, from just hundreds of scallops.
"We’re just trying to create a more resistant fishery that has tolerance to the parasite and anything else that may come their way," said Tobi.
Cornell plans to increase that diversity by hosting at least one other spawner sanctuary to the west in coming months, he said. Plans are underway to determine exactly where and how, he said, but it could move quickly once finalized.
There are just over a quarter million spawners on the long lines in Orient Harbor now, he said, scallops that eventually will be released into the wild before another crop of genetically diverse scallops are set into the lantern nets next year.
One scallop fisherman who dredged the waters of Moriches Bay on Monday said it produced a “fair number” of scallops on the first day of the season. The fisherman, who asked his name not be used, noted that Moriches Bay has been a better fishing area for scallops over the past several years, and doesn’t reflect the problems being felt in Peconic Bay.
Matt Ketcham, owner of Cutchogue-based Peconic Gold Oysters, who has fished for scallops in the past, on Monday said he decided against dredging for scallops on the first day of the season, opting instead to focus all his company’s attention on his oyster business, particularly with scallops so scarce in Peconic Bay.
“There’s not an abundance of [adult] scallops with the growth rings” large enough for baymen to harvest, said Ketchum, whose company is among the largest oyster producers in the state. And while “I do see a lot of bugs [small scallops] in my gear,” he doesn't plan to go looking for adults, which fetch high market prices. “I’ll continue to work on my oysters,” he said.
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
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