Scallopers frozen in
Price steady at $17
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
At $17 a pound, scalloping in Nantucket waters might be a lucrative way to spend the winter were it not for the freezing, melting and refreezing of the harbor, and the incessant howling winds.

Those scallopers still ready to go when the temperature inches above 28 degrees Fahrenheit - the reading at and below which scallop seed dies - are looking to salvage what is left of a season in which fishermen have harvested approximately 3,800 bushels to date, according to Marine Superintendent Dave Fronzuto.

This winter's first cold snap that began at the end of the third week in January and continued through yesterday for the most part, kept the dwindling fleet off the water in both Nantucket and Madaket harbors. When the temperature is at 28 degrees or below, Fronzuto flies a red flag at the head of the town pier signaling that scalloping is prohibited that day.

That flag flew stiff in the wind for many days this winter because of the gusty, frigid weather forcing the handful of scallopers still fishing to find work on shore. Fronzuto said when the weather is right, there are usually about four boats fishing in Nantucket Harbor and two out in Madaket, but not lately.

"They haven't been able to fish all this week and part of last week, so there's not a whole lot happening," he said on Feb. 15. "It's just been too cold."

But that cold is what Fronzuto prays for every season regardless of how many bushels are being dredged up.

"I'm glad it's ice," said Fronzuto. "It lets the bottom rest. The ice will break the grass off. We've been wanting ice and we got it."

One of the six or so scallopers still ready to go fishing once the weather improves, Doug Smith, who is also a member of the Shellfish & Harbor Advisory Board, is thinking positively about the warming trend starting today. He agrees with Fronzuto that colder water temperatures give the harbor bottom a rest and serves to make eelgrass brittle enough to break off, washing away and exposing scallop beds previously inaccessible to his dredges.

Smith came ashore around Jan. 20 and has only fished a few days since then.

"It's been a month," he said. "We had three days one week and then it just closed in on us, but I'm excited for this week…We're going to have a thaw, but it's going to be windy."

Smith added that the fishing had been improving before the deep freeze hit in late January and that the last three times he went out during that period he had brought home his five-bushel limit.

"The grass started to let go," he said. "The grass just held on longer than normal because it was warmer longer."

Smith added that he is optimistic about the rest of the season, adding that there appears to be a lot of young scallops in the harbor.

"Large amounts of seed are showing up, which is a really groovy

thing," he said. I