A mass die-off of Peconic Bay scallops in June and July has spurred new initiatives to help the recovery of the hard-hit East End scallop industry.
This is the fourth straight year of historically low scallop harvests. The annual scallop catch in 2020 and 2021 averaged only 3 percent of those in 2017 and 2018, according to a statement from Riverhead-based Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County.
Researchers from CCE attribute the mass die-offs to high disease levels exacerbated by higher water temperatures, low levels of dissolved oxygen, and the physiological stress of spawning by adult scallops amid the higher water temperatures.
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