The scallop harvest in Peconic Bay on New York’s Long Island has failed, due to factors linked to climate change. Over the summer, water temperatures reached the mid-C80s several times, a heat which scallops are unable to tolerate. But by October, most of the adults were empty shells. Stephen Tettelbach, a shellfish ecologist who is leading a scallop restoration project in the area, says that the long-term collapse in stocks is due to high water temperatures, low oxygen levels and three years of brown tide algal bloom in the late 1980s. In an interview with National Geographic, Tettelbach said he was surprised by how quickly the fishery had collapsed.
The scallop harvest in Peconic Bay on New York’s Long Island has failed, due to factors linked to climate change. Over the summer, water temperatures reached the mid-C80s several times, a heat which scallops are unable to tolerate. Stephen Tettelbach, a shellfish ecologist who is leading a scallop restoration project in the area, says that the long-term collapse in stocks is due to high water temperatures, low oxygen levels and three years of brown tide algal bloom in the late 1980s. In an interview with National Geographic, Tettelbach said he was surprised by how quickly the fishery had collapsed.