Commercial bay scalloping and oyster seasons will be extended in Edgartown following a vote by the town select board Monday. Both will run until May 1.
In late winter, as the cold winds blow, the Edgartown Harbor is a quiet place, mostly populated by gulls, the Chappy ferry making its appointed rounds, and the occasional scalloper or oysterman.
Bay scallop season has arrived, and while most of the Island is reporting an average or down year on the ponds, there is cautious excitement in Tisbury.
Following the discovery of small patches of bay scallops in Katama Bay and the outer harbor, Edgartown selectmen voted on Monday to extend the scallop season until April 19.
The Vineyard Haven side of Lagoon Pond will be closed to all bay scalloping beginning Monday, Nov. 5., to protect a large crop of juvenile scallops, the town shellfish constable said Wednesday morning.
Fans of local bay scallops are in luck; commercial fishermen, not so much. An abundance of fresh scallops on the market, combined with diminished interest in the product off-Island, has dropped the price of the shellfish.
Local fishmarkets said Island bay scallops were selling for $15 a pound Friday, down from as high as $20 earlier this year.
The Vineyard bay scallop season is underway and the news is mostly good for local consumers and commercial fishermen alike. Chilmark is having one of its best seasons in years; Edgartown is having one of its worst. Oak Bluffs and Tisbury are doing fine and on Monday another banner year is set to open in Aquinnah.
After polling a group of commercial shellfishermen in the room, the Edgartown shellfish committee agreed on Tuesday that the commercial scallop limit should stay at four struck 10-gallon washbaskets. The new limit went into effect on Dec. 10, and was previously set at three 10-gallon washbaskets.
