Peconic Bay Scallop Season 'A Wash' After Almost Complete Die-Off

EAST END, NY — Monday would have normally signaled the start of Peconic Bay scallop season on the East End, with baymen heading out early and fans of the sweet morsels lining up at local fish stores for their first mouthwatering taste of the year.

But not this year. Compounding last year's dismal season was the news Monday that there were simply no scallops to be had — and in the coming weeks, the grim scenario is not likely to brighten.

According to Stephen Tettlebach, a shellfish ecologist at Cornell Cooperative Extension who has been working on bay scallop restoration for 16 years, this year, there was a very large die-off of the adult scallop population in Peconic Bay.

Tettlebach said surveys by scuba divers are normally done in the spring and fall of each year. This year, a survey was done in the summer to see if a die-off was taking place he said, and if so, what the timing might look like.

"We determined that the die-off started in early summer," Tettlebach said. "By the end of July we had already seen and mortality levels of adults of about 50 percent. And then, by the end of August, at the three sites we were studying, we saw almost complete mortality."

When asked what caused the die-off, Tettlebach said he believes even more strongly than last year that it was linked to climate change.

"What we are seeing is higher and higher water temperatures," he said. That spike in temperature, in combination with low dissolved oxygen levels, a parasite that has been present in scallops in local bays, and a cownose ray fish that's come from southern waters, has signaled the scallops' widespread demise, he said.

"All of those factors, we believe, contributed to this mortality," Tettlebach said.

As for the number of scallops that have died, Teitleback said: "It's not zero, but from what we have seen — we do surveys at 20 different sites including Flanders Bay to Northwest Harbor, Orient Harbor and Hallocks Bay — there were very few adults."

All is not lost, Tettlebach said. "The silver lining is that there were a lot of juvenile scallops and that might mean good news for us next year. Hopefully, those survive to spawn for harvest season next year," he said.

Sadly, while there were also juvenile scallops last year, they did not survive until this year, he said. "We were pleased by the number of juvenile scallops last year. And even up until the end of June there were still a lot around when we completed our spring survey. But a month later, we saw this really heavy mortality already playing out," Tettlebach said.

The research is critical, Tettlebach adding that restoration has been ongoing for years and it's important that the work continue.

"The number of scallops we plant every year contributes to a large number of larvae and juvenile scallops. We strongly believe in that," Tettlebach said.

In addition, a grant proposal has been submitted to the federal government for funding that would allow for the selective breeding of scallops, with a goal of developing a line of scallops that are more resistant to high water temperature, low oxygen levels, and parasites, Tettlebach said.

"We have to identify the problem before we can do anything about it," he added. "We are learning more and just trying to understand what we are facing — and what we can do about it."

Tettlebach said he and others at Cornell Cooperative Extension are working with researcher Dr. Bassam Allem from Stony Brook University and Karen Rivara, who has an oyster company in Southold, to find answers.

This year, though, the grim news left spirits heavy.

Keith Reda, general manager at Braun Seafood Market Co. in Cutchogue, said this year is even worst than last year, when at least a few scallops were found toward the end of the season so "local people got a little taste."

When asked what was causing the problem, Reda said: "I really have no idea. We have all the scientists doing their thing but when I question exactly why, I get so many different answers."

Reda has been dealing with the disappointment across the board. A country club chef who is a client at the seafood market called to say he was excited for the Peconic Bay scallops. When told there would be no season this year, he said, "What? That was the only thing I was excited about this fall," Reda said.

On the upside, Reda said, sea scallops "are phenomenal this year."

But for those hankering for Peconic Bay beauties, Reda said the outlook is bleak.

Last year, he was able to source a bay scallop from Peru that was a "really, really good substitute."

But due to the coronavirus pandemic, he can't even get those because there are so few flights. If he were to purchase the bay scallops from Peru, they would have to be flown to Miami, and then shipped by truck to Maryland and Boston and then, New York, an eight-to-10 day process that would mean the scallops wouldn't be fresh and makes the idea untenable, he said.

The blow to business owners of local markets is sizable, Reda said. In past years, a bumper scallop crop could fetch roughly a half million dollars, he said.

And that's not even counting all the jobs lost, from shuckers to the baymen themselves, who've had to take other jobs or work for other fishermen, not go out on the water themselves, "just to get a paycheck," Reda said.

Beyond the immediate, the loss to to North Fork canvas is incalculable, he said.

"The Peconic Bay scallops are totally part of our culture," Reda said. "And the more years you don't have them, the less people will see that. How many young kids do you think know how to open a scallop, let alone catch one? If your dad's not going and you're not going, you're not going to learn how to do it. Who's going to teach you?"

Last year, despite the disappointing first day of the season, there was hope, with the juvenile scallops a potential harbinger of better days ahead, Reda said. "They did grow, but they didn't make it," he said. "They died."

The life span of a bay scallop is a maximum of two years, depending on when they spawn, Reda said.

In past years, he said, baymen who'd been out on local waters would come in with larger scallops, called "live-overs," or scallops that have lived over two years, Reda said. "We got none of that this year. We're beat again, unfortunately."

And he holds little hope that the days ahead will yield any surprises. "I don't think so, unless baymen find a secret little spot. But I don't think that will happen this year."

Charlie Manwaring, owner of the Southold Fish Market, agreed. Although he said no baymen went out Monday due to the wind, the prospects aren't heartening.

"It's going to be another bad year," he said. "Most baymen have already written it off. My regular scallopers aren't even going to go out."

He's put out some feelers to Nantucket to see if he can find some bay scallops up north but so far he hasn't heard back, Manwaring said.

"It's definitely going to be a wash this year. Someone might hit a spot here or there; I'm hoping a few of my diehard guys will go out. But I really don't have much hope."

Manwaring added: "When Mother Nature wants us to have them, she gives them to us. Right now, she's not happy with us, so she's not going to give us any. That's the way it works, I guess."