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.
Bay scallops have spawned with a vengeance this summer in Cape Pogue Pond. Once ranked among the most productive ponds for scallop landings in the state, Cape Pogue is teeming with juvenile bay scallops, many about the size of a dime.
It takes 18 months for a bay scallop to reach harvestable size, which means if these juvenile scallops survive the coming winter, predation and other environmental factors, the fall of 2011 will be a banner year for scalloping.
The commercial striped bass season ended last Monday and Alec Gale of West Tisbury said it was the worst season he has seen in the six years he has been hauling fish to the mainland for the local anglers. “It was a slow season, and it wasn’t because of overfishing,” Mr. Gale said. “I think it was a lack of bait and the warm water temperature.”
