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Shelter Island Reporter editorial: Saving our heritage

There’s good news in the movement to restore two of the Island’s great natural resources — scallops and the health of our surrounding waters.

Islander Kate Rossi-Snook has been involved with staff members from Cornell Cooperative Extension on a project to save young scallops from dying. It takes its cue from a successful oyster reef project in which spat — oyster larvae — are placed on shells, providing a safe place where oysters can grow. The same idea, more or less, will be used for the scallops.

And last summer, the U.S. Department of Commerce made the fisheries eligible for disaster assistance from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In the winter of 2020, researchers announced they’d discovered a parasite in some adult bay scallops that may have contributed to the massive die-off the year before.

Charity Robey reported last year that most of the adult scallops died in the heat of the summer as they have for the past three years, likely killed by a combination of disease and high water temperature. In a cruel twist, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation temporarily closed several prime scalloping spots due to the recent downpour and the threat of harmful runoff.

The harvest, if you can call it that, was a disaster.

For generations, bay scallops have been the jewels of the Peconic Bay fishery, coveted around the world for their sweetness.

They have been a multi-million-dollar crop for the fishing industry, from the baymen or women who work hard to harvest them, to the markets that sell them and the restaurants that feature them prominently on menus.

The loss of this cash crop hurts many people and calls into question the present and future health of our bays.

We salute Ms. Rossi-Snook, the baymen of Shelter Island, Cornell Cooperative, and government agencies and Island representatives who are working to keep the bay scallop as an essential natural resource.

When the 2022 season opens in State and local waters, we will once again hold our breath to see if there will be enough scallops to bring to market.

For all of us — and especially for those who make their livings from the waters around us — we earnestly hope for a turnaround.