There is a silver lining to the prolonged winter for local fishermen and seafood lovers: Bay scallop season has been extended an extra month to help area fishermen recoup losses contributed to the brutally cold weather.
Drastically low temperatures caused East End water bodies to ice over for more than a month of the regular bay scallop season, preventing fishermen from harvesting in Peconic Bays since early February. To help mitigate financial hardship caused by extensive icing of local embayments, the state Department of Environmental Conservation extended the 2015 season on Friday from March 31 to April 30.
Shelter Island bayman John Kotula said there is still plenty of mature scallops left to harvest now that the water has thawed.
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