Brown Tide Decimates Scallop Crop

"Horrible, it's a terrible year," was how Chris Smith of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Service characterized the East End's 1996 scallop season, which opened in state waters on Oct. 1 and will open in town waters on Monday.

Baymen were so discouraged by earlier scouting forays into Northwest Harbor that few of them appeared with dredges on opening day. Some of those who did reported catching three and four - that's scallops, not bushels. "On the North Fork, the season lasted two hours," Mr. Smith said of Orient Bay.

Precipitous Drop

The disappointing shellfish showing follows last season's decent crop, and 1994's bumper crop, the best in a decade. Before the onslaught of brown algae, scallops brought between $1.5 and $2 million a year to the local economy.

But in 1985, scallops feeding on colonies of the microscopic brown algae literally starved. The algae, which had crowded out other species, offered no nutrition. The brown cloud also killed off eelgrass - prime scallop habitat.

The harvest fell from 480,800 pounds of scallop meat in 1980 to 300 pounds in 1987. The catch gradually increased to over 20,000 pounds last year and, apparently, crashed this year.

Some Good News

Last summer's invasion of the mysterious algae again killed off scallops and their spawn throughout the Peconic and Gardiner's Bays system.

The good news is that there was no appreciable amount of brown algae this summer, except in Moriches and Great South Bays to the west. Baymen are reporting healthy numbers of bug scallops in state as well as in East Hampton Town waters. The natural set will again be augmented by several hundred thousand grown at the East Hampton Town Shellfish Hatchery.

In the meantime, the hunt for a solution to the brown algae menace continues. At the request of Congressman Michael Forbes, a portion of a $15 million appropriations bill signed into law earlier this month contains money to continue the study into the causes of the destructive blooms.