Donna King of Shelter Island said she and her husband Wayne couldn’t have asked for a better day as they set out at sunrise Monday from Congdons Creek for Orient Harbor. READ
Tag: scallops
One offshoot of running a company that’s been in the shellfish business for 90 years is aquatic and historical clutter. Ken Homan’s office at Braun Seafood in Cutchogue is an archive of shellfishing ephemera and Native American history, a collection that feels like a room at the American Museum of Natural History. READ
This year’s Peconic Bay scallop harvest started off with one of the strongest yields in years, according to local baymen and seafood retailers. READ
This year’s Peconic Bay scallop harvest is starting off with one of the strongest yields in years, according to local seafood markets and baymen.
The fall harvest is winding down on the North Fork. Grapes have been picked and are fermenting, pumpkins have been carved and apples have been turned into delicious pies and warm cider.
But for our local baymen and seafood lovers, another highly anticipated harvest has just begun — the opening of bay scallop season.
On the first day of Peconic Bay scallop season Monday, local fishermen and seafood retailers were lamenting what they called a rough start out on the water. READ
Orient Harbor on the opening day of scallop season. (Carrie Miller photo)
It’s an aquatic episode this week on North Fork in the News. (more…)
Gary Joyce of Aquebogue (left) and Ed Densieski of Riverhead sort through a catch. They said they often throw away more empty scallop shells than healthy keepers. (Credit: Carrie Miller)
Early Monday morning, under cover of darkness and beneath a star-lit sky, Ed Densieski and Gary Joyce boarded their custom-outfitted boat, dressed head to toe in vibrant all-weather gear.
Unfazed by the blustery chill, the pair headed out through Southold Bay, with Brick Cove Marina at their backs.
It was the start of their 16th scalloping season and, as Mr. Densieski said, “There’s only one opening day.” (more…)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Map.
• The scallop can be found in bays from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico and even in Nova Scotia. Locally, bay scallops are found mostly in the Peconics, Great South Bay, Moriches Bay and Shinnecock Bay. (more…)
KATHARINE SCHROEDER FILE PHOTO | A freshly shucked scallop on the half-shell.
Sunrise today marked the official opening of scalloping season on the North Fork.
Area baymen are heading out into state and Southold Town waters in search of the Atlantic bay scallop, found mostly in the small bays and harbors of the Peconic Bay, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Ed Densieski, a baymen from Riverhead said, “you never really know what to expect until the first day of the season.”
He has gone out scouting bay waters for baby scallops, and said he was hopeful it was going to be a good season.
According to the Peconic Estuary Program, during scalloping’s height about 500,000 pounds of bay scallops a season could be harvested from bay waters – equaling almost $2 million in dockside value.
But the scallop population was soon decimated following the first appearance of brown tide in 1985.
The sought-after shellfish has since been making a comeback over the past decade, according to the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County.
In Southold and Riverhead Town waters, commercial fisherman are limited to five bushels of scallops per person per day.
Two or more people occupying the same boat may take not more than 10 bushels of scallops per day for commercial purposes.
Recreational fisherman can harvest a limit of one bushel per person per day.