If you are a snorkeler, or if you have a boat or kayak and want to contribute to a citizen science survey to determine if there are scallops in the Santa Rosa Sound and Big Lagoon, join us for the second annual Santa Rosa Sound and Big Lagoon Great Scallop Search!
UF/IFAS Florida Sea Grant Extension in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties are looking for volunteers with boats and volunteer snorkelers to participate in a scallop survey in Santa Rosa Sound on July 30 and Big Lagoon August 6 from 8 a.m. until noon both days. The great scallop search is being held to determine if there are scallops in the Pensacola Bay System.
Volunteers will work in teams with a boat captain and three-to-four people to conduct the surveys. Survey areas are a single nautical square mile, where four transects will be surveyed in each grid. There is not a recreational harvest of scallops in our area, so this will be a non-harvest event. The Great Scallop Search is a great activity for the whole family!
Snorkelers will search 50-meter transects in their assigned nautical square mile grids in Santa Rosa Sound and Big Lagoon. Florida Sea Grant will loan supplies needed to conduct the surveys, volunteers will need to provide their own snorkel gear. These events are limited to 40 teams and all captains and volunteers are required to pick up survey equipment and survey information July 29 at Shoreline Park South and August 4 at Big Lagoon State Park between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Volunteers are also needed to collect survey equipment July 30 from 9 a.m. until noon at Shoreline Park South boat ramp, Woodlawn Beach boat ramp and the Navarre Beach boat ramp.
For more information and to register please contact Chris Verlinde, UF/IFAS Florida Sea Grant Extension in Santa Rosa at (850) 623-3868 or, after July 25, Rick O'Connor, with UF/IFAS Florida Sea Grant Extension in Escambia at (850) 475-5230.
