The Florida bay scallop season has been open for more then two weeks now, and from all of the reports that I am getting, this is turning out to be an excellent year. I thought I would give you all of the 'need to know' information about scalloping in this post, and I will work on places to go and how to catch and cook them in a later post.
SEASON - July 1 - September 10.
OPEN HARVEST AREAS - State waters in the Gulf of Mexico extending from the Pasco - Hernando county line ( latitude 28 degrees, 26.016 minutes North ), to the west bank of the Mexico Beach canal ( latitude 85 degrees, 25.84 minutes West ) in Bay County.
POSSESSION - It is illegal to take scallops from outside of the open harvest areas, or to land scallops outside of the open harvest areas. In other words, you can not gather scallops from within the legal harvest areas, and then dock your boat outside of the legal harvest areas with scallops aboard. If you live south of the Pasco - Hernando county line, or west of the Mexico Beach canal, you can not drive your boat into the legal harvest area, gather scallops, then return to your dock with scallops aboard.
RECREATIONAL HARVEST LIMIT - 2 gallons of whole bay scallops in the shell, or one pint of bay scallop meat per day. There is also a per boat limit of 10 gallons of whole bay scallops in the shell, or 1/2 gallon of bay scallop meat aboard any vessel at any time. Scallops may only be landed by hand or by dip net.
LICENSE - A Florida saltwater fishing license is required for the recreational harvest of bay scallops.
DIVING/SNORKELING REQUIREMENTS - A divers-down flag must be displayed on any vessel with divers/snorkelers in the water. The flag must be a minimum of 20"x24" and must use a stiffener to keep the flag unfurled. This flag must be displayed above the vessels highest point so that it is visible from all directions. A 12"x12" float flag is also required by all divers/snorkelers, and you must stay within 300' of this flag.
GEAR - Mask, snorkel, fins, diver-down flag, mesh bag to hold scallops until you get back to the boat, cooler with ice, sunscreen.
Keep an eye out for my next post on places to go scalloping and how to catch and cook them. Also check the maps to Florida's public boat ramps on the top right hand side of my main page. They will give you information on all of the public boat ramps in the legal harvest area, Boat Ramps - Big Bend, and you can use them to get driving directions or to find food, lodging, gas or whatever you will need when your scalloping adventure.
