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Cornell explores spawning Long Island scallops later in cooler waters

J.D. Allen
/
WSHU

A change in the reproductive season for Peconic Bay scallops could be the solution to the mass die-offs over the past few years.

Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Marine Program spawned scallops later than usual in 2022. Typically, bay scallops spawn around late April to early May. However, in 2022, Cornell began a fall spawn project to see if it would result in a better chance of survival.

Since 2019, these mass scallop die-offs have occurred, in part, because of rising water temperatures due to climate change. The increase in temperature has also brought about new parasites and predators that jeopardize scallop health in the summer months.

“It’s really just like a one-two punch all at the same time,” said Harrison Tobi, lead educator of the program at Cornell.

The pilot project, funded by the Robins Island Foundation, involves manipulating water temperature and food availability in hatcheries, resulting in a later spawn. A fall spawn avoids intense summer months where the risk factors for survival are much higher. Spring scallops would come in contact with these issues much sooner.

“The scallops from the fall spawn will have had less exposure in their first year to this parasite,” Tobi said. He noted this would also reduce the overall parasite load for fall scallops.

The recent fall spawn has worked out so far. “The spawn was very successful, we have over 30,000 baby scallops from that fall spawn,” Tobi added.

As opposed to a spring spawn with many obstacles ahead, “there are really no negative consequences of doing the fall spawn,” he added.

Tobi said he believes that being proactive is necessary to ensure a solution.

“Cause if we just accept that they’re doomed, if we are just like, ‘Well, water temperatures are rising, dissolved oxygen is lowering,’ there’s not much we can do about that. So kind of the idea behind this is like, well let’s do something about it,” he said.

This summer, the team will begin comparing the survival, reproductive cycle and parasite levels between the fall and spring scallops. The results of this comparative study will be known in the fall of 2023. Tobi said he hopes these preliminary results could lead to a larger-scale project.

Jane Montalto is a former news intern at WSHU.