New bay scallop season opens for Panhandle counties

While Summer is winding down, new waters for scalloping are opening up in the Panhandle area to round out the season.

The “Gulf County Zone” scalloping season opened this weekend. It’s for recreational enthusiasts who like to harvest bay scallops. And the latest scallop season will last until Sept. 24, into the first few days of Fall.

The area of harvesting scallops includes all state waters from Mexico Beach Canal in Bay County to the westernmost point of St. Vincent Island in Franklin County. While recreational harvests of scallops are in season, there are limits.

“The daily bag limit is 2 gallons of whole bay scallops in the shell or 1 pint of bay scallop meat per person, with a maximum of 10 gallons of whole bay scallops in the shell or 1/2 gallon (4 pints) shucked bay scallop meat per vessel per day,” said a news release from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

 Other stipulations include harvesting of the bay scallops can only be done by hand or enthusiasts can use a landing or dip net. Commercial harvesting is prohibited during the  season.

The latest bay scallop season comes simultaneously as some other seasons that have already opened in Florida for the harvesting of the shell fish.

Bay scallop season officially opened July 1 in Franklin to northwest Taylor, parts of Levy, Citrus and Hernando counties. That also includes Cedar Key, Crystal River and Homosassa and runs from through Sept. 24 as well. That season came on top of the season that was already underway in the Fenholloway-Suwannee River Zone that got underway earlier in June and runs through Labor Day.

There are some additional rules, according to FWC officials.

“Recreational harvesters need a Florida saltwater fishing license to harvest bay scallops unless they are exempt from needing a license or have a no-cost shoreline fishing license and are wading from shore to collect scallops (i.e., feet do not leave the bottom to swim, snorkel, or SCUBA and harvesters do not use a vessel to reach or return from the harvest location),” FWC officials said.

Anyone wishing to obtain a Florida Saltwater Fishing license can go to the agency’s website or call 1-888-FISH-FLORIDA (1-888-347-4356).