Opening dates are set for the scallop season in Oak Bluffs after the town’s select board passed the recommendations of the town’s shellfish committee.
According to Oak Bluffs Select Board meeting minutes from Sept. 22, the opening dates for recreational shellfishing is Oct. 17 in Sengekontacket Pond, with commercial shellfishing beginning on Oct. 26 for Sengekontacket and off the coast. Lagoon Pond opens on Oct. 31 for recreational shellfishing, followed by commercial on Nov. 2.
Oak Bluffs Harbor will open for both recreational and commercial shellfishing on Dec. 7.
The Oak Bluffs Select Board also unanimously voted to pass the committee’s recommendations for catch limits in the recreational and commercial fishing areas.
Catch limits for recreational fishermen is one bushel per week, and three bushels per week for commercial for inside waters; five bushels per day off the coast.
Other towns have also set their scallop season dates. Chilmark’s recreational season began on Oct. 7, while the commercial season will begin on Nov. 2. The recreational limits for Chilmark is one and a half bushels per week, with commercial limits set at two bushels per day.
Edgartown’s recreational scallop season began on Oct. 1 for dip net only in the ponds, and commercial begins on Oct. 26 for dip net and dragging, Rob Morrison, Edgartown Shellfish Constable, said. Scallop drags are used only in and around Cape Poge, and there is no dragging allowed in Sengekontacket.
Family shellfishing limits for Edgartown are one bushel per week for recreational shellfishing, and commercial limits are three bushels per day.
Tisbury’s recreational scallop season will begin on Oct. 31 for both Lagoon Pond and outside the ponds, with the commercial season beginning on Nov. 2. Lake Tashmoo recreational scallop season begins on Nov. 21, and commercial starts on Nov. 23. There will be no dragging at the head of Lagoon Pond, inside family shellfish areas, or Lake Tashmoo.
Aquinnah’s shellfish constable Isaac Taylor said the town has not decided how the scallop season will shape up yet. A typical Aquinnah scallop season usually opens in late November.
