While the recreational scalloping has been some of the best seen in a decade for the Gulf County Zone, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) announced a temporary closure of recreational bay scallop harvest last week, on September 4th. This early closure of Gulf County bay scallop season includes all state waters from the Mexico Beach Canal in Bay County to the westernmost point of St. Vincent Island in Franklin County, including all of St. Joseph Bay. The FWC’s proactive testing of the zone detected the presence of toxin-producing algae Pseudo-nitzschia and Pyrodinium bahamense in the local waters. So out of an abundance of caution, the zone was closed. While the early closure of Gulf County scallop season is still ongoing, if testing shows that levels of the toxin-producing algae Pseudo-nitzschia and Pyrodinium bahamense decrease, the season could reopen for harvest.
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FWC would also like to reiterate that while the Gulf County Zone is closed for scallop harvest, other recreational activities like fishing, boating, or swimming in the area are unaffected. This closure only pertains to filter-feeding shellfish, such as the bay scallop, that can bioaccumulate toxins in their flesh through filter feeding. Finfish are unaffected by the toxin-producing algae and can still be readily consumed from the zone. Additionally, if you want to collect bay scallops, the FWC reopened the Pasco Zone for recreational harvest of bay scallops on September 6th, with the season there continuing to September 21st.
For more information and updates, visit MyFWC.com/Scallops. Additional details on Pyrodinium can be found in the FWC Pyrodinium bahamense factsheet.
Writer for AllOutdoor.com and OutdoorHub.com Lifelong angler that will fish for anything that swim, firearms enthusiast, and hunter. Instagram – mrfish49
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