Florida’s Bay Scallop Season Opens July 1
It’s time, bay scallop harvesters! Get your snorkels, masks and dive flags ready. The recreational bay scallop harvest season starts July 1.
The season is regularly open through Sept. 10, but at its June 28 meeting in Palm Beach Gardens, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) will discuss extending the season by two weeks.
Bay scallops can be recreationally harvested in Gulf of Mexico state waters (shore to nine nautical miles) from the Pasco-Hernando County line to the west bank of the Mexico Beach Canal in Bay County.
The recreational bag limit is two gallons of whole bay scallops or one pint of meat per person, per day, with a vessel limit of 10 gallons of whole bay scallops or one-half gallon of meat.
There is no commercial harvest for bay scallops in Florida state waters.
FWC officers will be working during scallop season to ensure that everyone has an enjoyable, safe day on the water. To help boaters remain safe they must follow all safety regulations, including having all necessary safety equipment onboard.
“With extra people on and in the water, it is especially important that divers and snorkelers properly display a dive flag and boaters steer clear of those in the water,” said Col. Jim Brown, director of the FWC’s Division of Law Enforcement.
For more information about bay scallop season, visit MyFWC.com/Fishing and click on “Saltwater,” “Recreational Regulations” and “Bay Scallops.” To learn more about the June 27-28 Commission meeting, visit MyFWC.com/Commission.
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission came into existence on July 1, 1999 - the result of a constitutional amendment approved in the 1998 General Election as part of the package proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission.
In the implementation of the Constitutional Amendment, the Florida Legislature combined all of the staff and Commissioners of the former Marine Fisheries Commission, elements of the Divisions of Marine Resources and Law Enforcement of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and all of the employees and Commissioners of the former Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.
Five years later, after consulting stakeholders, employees and other interested parties, the FWC adopted a new internal structure to address complex conservation issues of the new century. The new structure focuses on programs, such as habitat management, that affect numerous species. It will focus on moving the decision-making process closer to the public and did not require any additional funding or additional positions.
