Toxic Algae Shuts Down Pasco Scallop Harvest With 12 Days Left in the Season

Recreational bay scallop harvest in the Pasco Zone is closed effective Thursday, Aug. 6, after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission detected the toxin-producing algae Pyrodinium bahamense at levels above the safety thresholds set by the National Shellfish Sanitation Program. The shutdown, issued under Executive Order 26-27, wipes out the final 12 days of a season that was supposed to run through Aug. 18, and it covers exactly the water that families out of Hudson, Port Richey and New Port Richey run to on a Saturday morning.

The closed area is all state waters south of the Hernando-Pasco County line and north of the Anclote Key Lighthouse in northern Pinellas County. That includes every bit of the Anclote River.

Everything else about the water is unchanged. FWC says the zone stays open for fishing, boating and swimming. The problem is eating the scallops, not being in the water with them.

Why the toxin matters

Scallops are filter feeders. When a Pyrodinium bloom moves through, they concentrate saxitoxin, a paralytic shellfish toxin, in their tissue. UF/IFAS Extension in Pasco County notes that saxitoxin is heat stable, so cooking a contaminated scallop does not make it safe, and the toxin has no taste or smell to warn you. Paralytic shellfish poisoning is the reason the state pulls the plug rather than waiting it out.

Where you can still legally go

Every other scallop zone in Florida remains open. The closest one starts right at the top of the closed line: the Levy, Citrus and Hernando county zone, which takes in Crystal River, Homosassa and Cedar Key, runs through Sept. 24. St. Joseph Bay and Gulf County opens Aug. 16 and also runs through Sept. 24, and the Franklin-through-northwestern-Taylor stretch is open until Sept. 24 as well.

Bag limits in the open zones north of us are the same ones Pasco boats are used to: two gallons of whole scallops in the shell, or one pint of meat, per person, with a maximum of 10 gallons whole (or a half gallon shucked) per vessel per day. Harvest is by hand or dip net only. You need a Florida saltwater fishing license unless you are exempt, or you are wading from shore on a no-cost shoreline license.

One rule that matters if you launch in Pasco and run north: FWC allows direct transit of legally harvested scallops through closed areas. You can come back through Pasco water with a legal catch from an open zone as long as you keep moving.

This is the third straight summer

Pasco's zone is the southernmost bay scallop fishery in the state, and it has now been interrupted by the same algae three years running. Both previous closures ended with FWC reopening the zone and tacking days onto the back end of the calendar.

The bloom itself is not a surprise to biologists. Pyrodinium bahamense drops cyst-like seeds into the coastal sediment, and they sit there until water conditions are right for them to germinate. How bad any given summer gets depends on how many cysts are on the bottom and what the water is doing above them.

What happens next

FWC has not set a reopening date and has not said whether the 2026 season will be extended past Aug. 18 if testing improves. The agency says the zone will reopen once tests show toxin levels have come down to safe limits, and state biologists keep sampling the area continuously while the closure is in effect. Based on the last two summers, any reopening would arrive as a new executive order with only a day or two of notice, so check FWC's bay scallop page before you load the cooler.

For more Pasco alerts as they break, keep up with us at Pasco County Community Website and follow along on Facebook. Got a scalloping trip you had to cancel, or a report from the water this week? Join the conversation in our Community Forum.

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