July 16, 2018 — Scallop populations are diminishing in St. Andrews and St. Joseph’s Bay. Over the past few years scientists have noticed a decline in reproduction. To solve the issue of a scallop shortage, scientists have gotten creative.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and volunteers, spent the day making around 100 scallop cages. Emily Hardin, the FWC Volunteer Coordinator says she’s proud of her community. “It’s just really inspiring to see the community coming together to help with this scallop restoration project.”
A total of 6 organizations are involved with this project. The FWC, UF/IFAS Extension Bay County, UF/IFAS Extension Gulf County, Bay County Board of Commissioners, St. Andrews Bay Watch Resource Management Association, and Florida Sea Grant.
The cages are part of a 10 year scallop restoration program across the entire panhandle. It is funded through a Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) Grant.
The decrease in scallop population could be due to over harvesting, red tide events, weather changes. A mix of events.
Lix Pudlak and FWC Biologist and outreach coordinator explained how the cages work. “The cage kind of acts as a barrier from predators so it’ll help protect them from being eaten and stuff like that. And since they’re in such close proximity to each other it should increase, I guess, success of reproduction.”