The Brightside: Bay Scallops Restoration
SNOW HILL, Md. – If you’re a seafood lover, you might be a fan of sea scallops, but what about the lesser-known bay scallops? Well if you aren’t familiar, one local marina, the only one to be specific, is working to bring back the local bay scallop population right here on the Eastern shore.
“Something new and interesting we’re looking forward to seeing how it grows,” says Bryan Dickey. He’s talking about bay scallops, essentially an edible saltwater clam that’s making its return here in Maryland, and it’s all thanks to Baywater Landing. “You raise them out in the bay, and I’m just trying to re-populate but also they make great food, and bring people here, and letting people know they used to be a native species here and we’re trying to bring it back,” says Claire Rush, a Manager at Baywater Landing. Dickey adds, “They are native to this area, there aren’t many left in this wild population so many people don’t know about them, so we’re trying to educate people and get them to eat them because they’re delicious.”
Dickey, a product manager at Baywater Landing tells 47 ABC, these little scallops were pretty scarce years ago. While they can’t pinpoint the exact cause of it, owners, Lee Beauchamp and Matt Holloway have found an opportunity to bring them back to the bay, and in abundance; currently raising millions of them a day. “They need a high salinity so they do well because the salinity is high because we’re close to the ocean here they seem to grow well, and fast, their life cycle is only two years old and they die after that.” Dickey adds, “We’re using a technique they use in Japan with these lantern nets and it seems to work well here, it’s kind of amazing how fast they grow.”
While they’re working to bring back the population, they purchase the scallops from nurseries up and down the coast, such as the Virginia Institute of Science. They start at the size of a red pepper flake and only grow to about 2 inches. Whether you choose to eat them raw, or on a steamed seafood platter, they’re also helping to keep their habitat intact. “All the fish coming up and feeding off the pieces that come off, the pieces they wash off and it’s just making habitats out there,” says Dickey. He adds, “They feed almost continuously so they’re cleaning the water as well, and also with that many volumes of one scallop in an area they will reproduce. Hopefully, we’ll have wild scallops out there eventually.”
Baywater Landing is a younger marina, but the community work and restoration efforts already taking place are bringing a new light to aquaculture here on the shore. “We take care of the bay scallops, take care of our oysters, try to teach them how to crab, what our oysters do for the environment, what bay scallops do for the environment,” explains Rush.
As they work to continue to educate the community, they’re also saving the bay scallop population which we’re told is the number one goal. “It just shows that the owners are very committed, bring something new to Snow Hill which is such an established historic tow, and it’s giving people a good place to go,” says Rush.
To find out more about their restoration efforts, or if you just want to check them out, Baywater Landing is located at 3908 Bayside Rd. Snow Hill, MD. You can visit their website by clicking here.
