Family scallop season begins today
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
If you are any kind of a recreational scalloper worth your salt, you purchased your family license back in April when they first went on sale and you've been driving around the island for the last week with your pushrake proudly strapped onto the roof of your vehicle.

Well, today is your day, the first day of family scalloping season, with low tide at 11:43 a.m. Anyone scalloping in the waters of Nantucket must have a recreational shellfish license, available at the Marine & Coastal Resources Department for $25 for island residents and $100 for nonresidents. This year's green-colored license is good through March 31, 2008, and permits the harvesting of one bushel of scallops per week with scalloping allowed Wednesday through Sunday.

The family license cannot be shared by adult members of a family, with the exception that licensed adults may scallop with as many of their own children under the age of 14 as they like. If you are over 60, you're entitled to a lifetime recreational scalloping license that comes with a white badge. However, that license and badge cannot be shared with anyone else.

Equally important is that only scallops with raised, well-defined growth rings can be taken. Scallopers caught with scallops lacking growth rings - juvenile scallops known as seed - will have their catch dumped back into the water by the town's shellfish wardens who will be on the lookout throughout the recreational season.

Recreational scallopers must have their badges clearly displayed and are free to pushrake, snorkel, scuba dive or collect scallops by view box and dip net. A family license does not permit you to dredge for scallops from a boat, although you can use a boat to get to scalloping locations.

For full details on family scalloping, visit the Marine & Coastal Resources Department at the head of the town

pier at 34 Washington St., or call 228-7261. I