Peconic Bay Scallops Parasite Surprise
This year’s die-off of Peconic Bay scallops was Found to have an undetected parasite that can infect the kidneys of adult and juvenile scallops.It looks like folks were caught off guard here. “This is a new factor that scientists think may have a prevalent effect,”
The specific parasitic organism, known as coccidian parasite, was discovered in kidney tissue of all scallops collected and sampled from Shelter Island’s Hay Beach last November. Some scallops had “extensive damage” to renal tubes, enough to kill the most heavily infected.
Scientists at Stony Brook University’s Marine Animal Disease Laboratory, said the parasite “represents a significant threat” to the scallops. Biologists last year theorized a combination of factors may have spurred the collapse of Peconic Bay scallops, which saw mortality rates of from 90% to 100%. But no one saw this coming.
Originally we heard that is was the unusually warm waters and resulting low oxygen levels may have hit at the height off the scallops’ summer spawning season in July, putting heightened stress on the shellfish. There were also reports that large schools of cow-nosed rays spotted in eastern waters may have been feasting on scallops. Thanks at guess was wrong.
My fear it’s that the scallops go the way of the lobster population in the Long Island Sound. In the prior two years, baymen landed some 108,000 pounds of bay scallops with value of some $1.6 million. This winter, many licensed scallopers put away their gear after just a week and lost a good piece of their annual income.
Stony Brook scientists would continue to investigate “environmental factors that promote disease development of the parasite and monitor its geographical extent in bay scallops in Peconic Bay in order to protect and restore this ecologically and economically important resource.”
This sounds exactly like what we heard about our lobster fishery. You know the 4 million pound a year fishery that has all but left the Sound. Similar to the collapsed lobster fishery that we still have no definitive answer for, DEC is still referring to the cause of the die-off as “unknown,”
I don’t have all of the answers why, but it seems clear to me things are changing in our bays and we need to get a hold of it before it’s too late.
This year’s die-off of Peconic Bay scallops was Found to have an undetected parasite that can infect the kidneys of adult and juvenile scallops.It looks like folks were caught off guard here. “This is a new factor that scientists think may have a prevalent effect,”
The specific parasitic organism, known as coccidian parasite, was discovered in kidney tissue of all scallops collected and sampled from Shelter Island’s Hay Beach last November. Some scallops had “extensive damage” to renal tubes, enough to kill the most heavily infected.
Scientists at Stony Brook University’s Marine Animal Disease Laboratory, said the parasite “represents a significant threat” to the scallops. Biologists last year theorized a combination of factors may have spurred the collapse of Peconic Bay scallops, which saw mortality rates of from 90% to 100%. But no one saw this coming.
Originally we heard that is was the unusually warm waters and resulting low oxygen levels may have hit at the height off the scallops’ summer spawning season in July, putting heightened stress on the shellfish. There were also reports that large schools of cow-nosed rays spotted in eastern waters may have been feasting on scallops. Thanks at guess was wrong.
My fear it’s that the scallops go the way of the lobster population in the Long Island Sound. In the prior two years, baymen landed some 108,000 pounds of bay scallops with value of some $1.6 million. This winter, many licensed scallopers put away their gear after just a week and lost a good piece of their annual income.
Stony Brook scientists would continue to investigate “environmental factors that promote disease development of the parasite and monitor its geographical extent in bay scallops in Peconic Bay in order to protect and restore this ecologically and economically important resource.”
This sounds exactly like what we heard about our lobster fishery. You know the 4 million pound a year fishery that has all but left the Sound. Similar to the collapsed lobster fishery that we still have no definitive answer for, DEC is still referring to the cause of the die-off as “unknown,”
I don’t have all of the answers why, but it seems clear to me things are changing in our bays and we need to get a hold of it before it’s too late.
