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Tampa Bay Watch and Tampa Bay Estuary
Program have teamed up again to sponsor the Great Bay Scallop
Search, a resource monitoring program where volunteers snorkel to
search for scallops in select areas within Boca Ciega and Lower
Tampa Bays. The Great Bay Scallop Search has been conducted
annually since 1993. The purpose of this program is to monitor and
document the health and status of the bay scallop population.
Volunteers found only one live scallop in 2005 due to the severe
red tide, 17.5 were found in 2006 and an all-time event high of 555
scallops were found in 2007. Tampa Bay Watch is optimistic to find
even more scallops in 2008.
The Great Bay Scallop Search is Tampa Bay
Watch's most popular volunteer event each year. Not only does it
offer the opportunity to bring attention to the bay's valuable
resources, but it also promotes hands-on volunteerism and education
to families and residents of the estuary. Many first time as well
as "seasoned" scallop searchers comment on the exciting bay
wildlife they see under the water during the event. Even if a
search team does not find their elusive scallop prey, fun is always
had by all.
About 45 boats with more than 200
participants will search selected sites in Boca Ciega and Lower
Tampa Bays for the elusive bay scallops. Bay scallops, or the
"Argopecten irradians" disappeared from Tampa Bay in the 1960s when
the bay water was highly polluted from dredging operations and
industrial and municipal wastes. Tampa Bay’s water quality
and seagrass beds have since improved to levels that will once
again the bay scallop population.
Registered scallop searchers will meet at
9 a.m. at the eastern side of the Fort De Soto Boat Ramp on
Saturday, Aug. 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.
Tampa Bay Watch is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3)
stewardship program dedicated exclusively to the charitable and
scientific purpose of protecting and restoring the marine and
wetland environments of the Tampa Bay estuary encompassing over 400
square miles of open water and 2,300 square miles of
highly-developed watershed. Tampa Bay Watch involves more than
10,000 youth and adult volunteers each year in hands on habitat
restoration projects. For more information on upcoming events,
becoming a volunteer or member, visit www.tampabaywatch.org , or
call 727-867-8166.
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