Pasco County's scalloping season pause impacts local tourism dollars

Paused scallop season impacts Pasco County

Scalloping season ends this weekend in Florida, but it got cut off early in Pasco County last month because of unsafe levels of toxins in the water. That’s impacting local revenue.

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. - Pasco County’s scalloping season had remained on pause for nearly a month, impacting local tourism dollars as the season comes to an end this weekend.

Many charter captains were hoping to close the scalloping season out strong and get people out in the water.

"It’s like hunting Easter eggs. You put a mask and a snorkel on, some fins. You’ve got a little mesh bag, and you’re swimming in water roughly anywhere from three to five foot deep," said Curt Romanowski, the charter captain and owner of Florida Backwater Charters.

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Romanowski hoped to host more clients on his boats to harvest scallops in Pasco County this year. But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission paused Pasco’s season nearly a month ago.

"When they shut it down, they really hurt all of us that had trips booked," said Romanowski. "I would say I lost probably about 18 to 20 trips."

Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano of District 5 said unsafe toxins from an algae bloom in Anclote Key keep the pause in place.

"Being that it was just a small area down at Anclote that caused all those problems after a dredging project that took two years to get down, finished a couple of months ago, that area is where the impact was," said Mariano.

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FWC has been collecting samples of the water, and Mariano said a test on Thursday showed improvement.

"They become infected, so you don’t want to eat them. They can hurt you. So, in an abundance of caution, they wanted to shut it down," said Mariano. "So, now that that’s cleared up pretty well, we think that it’ll be bountiful out there."

Scalloping brings in big tourism during the summer, boosting the local economy with spending at local businesses.

"Last year, we had like 40,000 visitors come in. We had $8 million in direct spending and $11 million of economic impact," said Mariano.

But businesses and charters are losing out on that now. Romanowski said he usually fills the mornings and afternoons.

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"If you can book the whole season in doubles, you can make $40,000. It just depends on what you can book and what’s there," said Romanowski.

Once FWC’s sampling results deem the levels safe again, the season could extend to late September.

"Just by getting those extra weekends through September 24 will be a tremendous boost. Because right now, we know weekends are the most impact anyway," said Mariano.

But for businesses that book out months in advance, some said they aren’t so sure how much it will help.

"As far as the charter business, we’ll probably get a few phone calls of people saying they’d like to still get out. But we’re not going to be able to replenish what we lost," said Romanowski.

Mariano said the county expects to hear an update from FWC next week.

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