|
Scallop Season is Here
Come and get 'em! July 1 - September 10, 2005
The Florida bay scallop is a bivalve mollusk that grows and lives in seagrass beds in relatively shallow water, 4 to 10 feet deep. At one time scallops ranged abundantly from Palm Beach to Pensacola. Today, healthy populations can only be found in selected locations along Florida's west coast - principally St. Joseph Bay, and the area between the Suwannee and Weeki Wachee rivers. Scallops live about one year before either dying off naturally or being eaten by crabs, octopuses, or a variety of shellcrushing finfish. They spawn in the fall, and after about a two-week larval period, develop a small shell and settle onto seagrass blades where they continue to grow until late spring to early summer. They then fall from the grassblades and become free swimmers. Unlike oysters and clams, scallops are active swimmers. They click their shells together, forcing expelled water to propel them quite rapidly. Scallops are also prolific spawners - a single scallop can produce more than one million eggs per spawn.
Rules and Regulations Include:
2 Gallons whole scallops or 1 pint shucked meat per person
No more than 10 gallons whole or 1/2 gallon shucked per boat
A Florida saltwater fishing license is required for all non-residents and any Florida residents using a mask and snorkel fishing from a boat.
- Please remember to always use a dive flag for you safety.
- Don't take more than you want to shuck.
- Spawning occurs in the fall, so let the small ones go!
Fishing license information may be obtained by calling the Gulf County Tax Collector's Office at (850) 229-6116.
|
|
Reducing Your Risk
Port St. Joe, FL: The Gulf County Sheriff's Office has reopened all of the beaches of Gulf County. After completing a series of air, water and land sight surveys, there was no evidence of unusual shark activity and the beaches have opened for beach goers.
County Officials closed the beaches immediately after a shack attacked 16 year old Craig A. Hutto, visiting from Tennessee, off the beaches of Cape San Blas.
The Gulf County Tourist Development Council is urging swimmers to exercise caution and to stay near the shore since sharks tend to be in deeper, warmer waters. Attacks are more likely to occur between sandbars where sharks feed and can become trapped at low tide. Swimmers should also avoid swimming near schools of baitfish, which may attract sharks.
While realizing the risk of a shark attack is very small, the National attention the media has focused on Walton and Gulf County has many visitors and residents alike fearful," states TDC Director Paula Ramsey Pickett. We are educating our beach users on how to reduce the risk of a shark encounter. The TDC has prepared pamphlets which have been passed out to beach goers through local vacation rental companies and the Sheriffs Department. In order to reduce having an interaction with a shark the TDC recommends following the advice prepared by George H. Burgess, International Shark Attack File, University of Florida. This includes:
- Always stay in groups since sharks are more likely to attack a solitary individual.
- Do not wander too far from shore --- this isolates an individual and additionally places one far away from assistance.
- Avoid being in the water during darkness or twilight hours when sharks are most active and have a competitive sensory advantage.
- Do not enter the water if bleeding from an open wound or if menstruating --- a shark's olfactory ability is acute.
- Wearing shiny jewelry is discouraged because the reflected light resembles the sheen of fish scales.
- Avoid waters with known effluents or sewage and those being used by sport or commercial fisherman, especially if there are signs of bait fishes or feeding activity. Diving seabirds are good indicators of such action.
- Sightings of porpoises do not indicate the absence of sharks --- both often eat the same food items.
- Use extra caution when waters are murky and avoid uneven tanning and bright colored clothing --- sharks see contrast particularly well.
- Refrain from excess splashing and do not allow pets in the water because of their erratic movements.
- Exercise caution when occupying the area between sandbars or near steep dropoffs --- these are favorite hangouts for sharks.
- Do not enter the water if sharks are known to be present and evacuate the water if sharks are seen while there. And, of course, do not harass a shark if you see one
A shark attack is a potential danger that must be acknowledged by anyone that enters the gulf, but it should be kept in perspective. Bees, wasps and snakes are responsible for far more fatalities each year. In the United States the annual risk of death from lightning is 30 times greater than that from shark attack. |
