|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Tampa Bay Watch volunteers monitor bay scallops
Article published on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008 |
 |
![[Image]](/content_images/081408_out-04.jpg) |
| The elusive scallop is the focus of Tampa Bay Watch’s search on Aug. 16.. |
|
Tierra Verde – Join 180-plus community volunteers on Saturday, Aug. 16, to snorkel through the shallow seagrass beds of Lower Tampa Bay to document the return of the elusive scallop.
All indicators point to a phenomenal year for scallops in Tampa Bay as a result of 25 years of water quality improvements and habitat restoration efforts in our region.
Since early 1960’s scallop populations have been sadly missing from the bay due to poor water quality and loss of seagrass habitat. As conditions in Tampa Bay improve scallops have made a tentative comeback. Tampa Bay Watch and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program have coordinated community volunteers through the Great Bay Scallop Search to help document the number of scallops in Lower Tampa Bay which helps to document the health of the Tampa Bay estuary.
Results have ranged from zero counts in the past to an all time high of 555 individual scallops found last year. Early indications are that scallop numbers continue to grow this year and are spread out over a greater area of the Bay, leading bay managers to believe that the 2008 Great Bay Scallop Search will be our best ever in Tampa Bay.
Registered scallop searchers will meet at 9:00am at the eastern side of the Fort De Soto Boat Ramp on Saturday, August 16 to receive survey equipment and instructions for the monitoring event. At each site, a weighted transect line 50 meters in length is laid along seagrass beds. Snorkelers count scallops along each side of the transect line, within one meter of each side, creating a 100 square meter survey area.
Bay scallops are secretive bivalves in the same family as clams and oysters. They may reach a shell size of two inches and spend most of their short 12 to 18 month life span hiding in sea grasses of waters like Tampa Bay. Scallops are filter feeders, therefore they are highly sensitive to changes in water quality and can be used to measure an ecosystem’s health and signal changes in water quality. Bay scallops are vulnerable to changes in water temperature and salinity. Adult bay scallops can pump as much as 15.5 quarts of water per hour. Tampa Bay Watch, Mote Marine Laboratory and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation are working to increase the bay scallops in our area by raising scallops in laboratories and releasing the juveniles into the Bay. Although bay scallops are edible, it is illegal to harvest scallops in Tampa Bay in order for restoration efforts to be successful.
For more information on upcoming events, becoming a volunteer or member, visit www.tampabaywatch.org, or call 727-867-8166.
|
Article published on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008
Copyright © Tampa Bay Newspapers: All rights reserved. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Tampa Bay Newspapers
9911 Seminole Blvd.
Seminole, FL 33772
(727) 397-5563
Open Monday-Friday
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
|
|
