PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Pasco County will get an extended scallop season after all.
Weeks after the state said the season would stay at 10 days, Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano announced at Tuesday’s commission meeting that the season would be extended.
What You Need To Know
- Pasco County’s scallop season will extend from 10 to 37 days in 2023
- The season will go from July 1 to Aug. 6
- County leaders met with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to get the season extended weeks after the state denied it
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- Scalloping returned to Pasco as a pilot program in 2018 for a 10-day season each summer
He first said that it would a 30-day season. Then on Wednesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) announced it will be 37 days for 2023.
The season will go from July 1 to Aug. 6.
“This is going to be a great thing for Pasco County and a great thing for tourism,” Mariano said at the meeting.
Mariano said he went to Tallahassee during Tourism Week in March, along with Florida’s Sports Coast Director Adam Thomas. They met with FWC to see if a longer season would be possible.
After first denying the request, FWC agreed.
“Extending the season will increase the economic benefits from this popular recreational fishery to local communities in the region,” said Division of Marine Fisheries Management Director Jessica McCawley in a news release.
Scalloping returned to Pasco as a pilot program in 2018 for a 10-day season each summer.
