2 million scallops and counting

These seed scallops will grow over the weeks they spend in mesh covered boxes suspended in Mashomack waters.

Volunteers at Mashomack will release their two-millionth scallop this year as part of the Shellfish Restoration Initiative, a program of the Nature Conservancy and other partners, that began in 2001 to replenish shellfish populations throughout Peconic Bay that were nearly wiped out by the brown tides of the 1980s.
This year more than 300,000 bay scallops will be raised from tiny seed scallops acquired from East Hampton and Cornell spawning programs. Each week, volunteers led by Islander Corky Diefendorf meet at Mashomack’s Log Cabin Creek to count and measure the scallops, and clean the cages protecting them from predators. Bay scallops and other shellfish are keystone species that filter bay waters and play an important role in the ecology of the Peconic Estuary.CHRIS WOODS