Bay Scallop Harvesting Resumes After 7-Year Moratorium

For the first time since 2006, fishermen along North Carolina's southeastern coast can go after bay scallops in Bogue Sound.  A moratorium on the mollusks has been lifted in that area and the inner coastal waters to the South Carolina line.  The state imposed the ban because of declining populations seven years ago.

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Credit www.fishwatch.gov

Sorting the scallop catch

 Tina Moore works with the North Carolina division of Marine Fisheries.  She says the state allows the harvest when bay scallop populations reach certain levels.   "Whenever we can open an area for bay scalloping now, everybody gets very excited because its a slow period for other fisheries this time of year, so it gets them out there doing something different, and this is also a product that's a high value." She says the season runs from today through April first for the approved areas.