Scallop Enhancement for Increased Recreational Fishing Opportunity in the Florida Panhandle
Implementing Organization
State of Florida
Overview
DWH Project Funding
$2,890,250
Known Leveraged Funding
$0
Funding Organization
Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees (NRDA)
Funding Program
Natural Resource Damage Assessment NRDA
Details
Project Category
Recreational Use
Project Actions
Engineering and/or Construction
Targeted Resources
Recreational Resources
Project Description
This project involves enhancing local scallop populations in targeted areas in the Florida Panhandle. The improvements include the harvesting and redistribution of naturally occurring juvenile scallops supplemented with stocking from a commercial scallop hatchery. Implementing this project will hopefully increase scallop populations in the targeted locations to self-sustaining levels that will support recreational harvests in Bay County (St. Andrew Bay system). Scallop populations in Gulf and Franklin Counties have also been targeted for enhancement in order to reduce the risk of population collapses in current recreationally harvested areas. Restoration efforts were suspended in Choctawhatchee Bay after 2017 and in Pensacola Bay after 2022 due to a lack of success following several years of cage installations, larval releases, and free planting spat.
Contact
Gareth Leonard(850) 508-4796
gareth.leonard@myfwc.com
Project Website
None
For official trustee information regarding the Deepwater Horizon NRDA, including information regarding the NRDA process and the status of projects, see https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/