Great Scallop Search turns up more than double last year's numbers

By Dana Kampa
| 9:14 a.m. August 24, 2026

Emmie Slusky, 8, and Olga Slusky hold up the bay scallop and an urchin they found during the annual Great Scallop Search on Saturday on Sarasota Bay.

Longboat Key
Neighbors

Not long after this year's Great Scallop Search kicked off Saturday on Sarasota Bay, 8-year-old Emmie Slusky examined the bright blue eyes of a live bay scallop.

She and her family were some of the first volunteers to uncover the scallops hiding in the sea grass beds and silt beneath the waves. Participants in the scallop population survey found 50 live animals, more than double last year.

Several factors worked in favor of a successful survey this year, according to Sarasota Bay Watch Executive Director Ronda Ryan. The absence of red tides, relief from high temperatures with the season's thunderstorms, experienced eyes from Sarasota County staff helping with the search, mostly sunny skies, calm waters, and a total of 95 participants making it happen all contributed to a quality search of the bay.

Emmie and Olga Slusky hold up an urchin and a scallop they found during the Great Scallop Search on Aug. 22. Along the scalloped edge of the shell, the critter's multitude of pinpoint eyes poke out.

After everyone connected with their captains for the day at the Sarasota Sailing Squadron headquarters, Ryan called everyone together at 8:30 a.m. to see a demonstration of how to deploy the guide lines snorkelers would follow to guide their search.

"What we like to say is to look for scallops, but at the same time, keep your windows open. What else are you seeing?" she advised the crowd.

Participants said they observed a wide swath of wildlife swimming in the bay that morning, including rays, other shellfish, minnows, starfish and other marine life. One snorkeler found one exceptionally large hermit crab nestled into a horse conch shell guarding a shiny quarter in his makeshift home.

Sarasota Bay Watch Vice President Brian Jung briefs his team as they head out for the Great Scallop Search.

The fleet of citizen scientists divided up sections of the bay's western edge to methodically search over the next three hours. Working in pairs, they put out fluorescent orange buoys tethered to yellow ropes. With one person on each side, they snorkeled along the bottom of the bay, scanning for the telltale bright eyes and scalloped mouth of the bivalves.

Slusky, who was out that morning with her siblings and her mother, Olga, said she found her scallop when she felt something brush against her foot.

"I was walking and then I felt something hard. I asked my mom to pick it up for me, so she picked it up, and it turns out it was a scallop," she said, beaming at the critter clasped in her hands.

Olga Slusky said her family has always had a love for nature. She was glad to have an opportunity for them to get an up-close view of the wildlife that calls Sarasota Bay home, all while contributing to research benefiting the whole community.

This was their first time participating in the search, but Olga said she doesn't think it will be the last.

"They loved the experience, and being part of this was amazing," she said. "I had a blast just being outside and enjoying seeing underwater, which I normally would not. I'll go to the beach to enjoy a swim, but I've never done this, and it was fun to see the marine life."

The family was delighted to find plenty of urchins, crabs and other interesting animals. They were aboard the ecotour boat piloted by Sarasota Bay Explorers.

As far as Capt. Billy Duhe knew, this was the first time Sarasota Bay Explorers offered a boat, and he said the company was glad to contribute to the community effort when staff saw Sarasota Bay Watch needed more vessels to bring out the volunteer snorkelers.

"It's great to be helping out with some research," he said. "Hopefully, it will become an ongoing thing, and we'll be able to help out more in the future."

The volunteers aboard their boat were also treated to a display from local dolphins that morning.

Ryan thanked all the volunteers who helped with the tremendous undertaking. She said the survey is a good barometer for the health of the bay given scallops' sensitivity to poor water conditions.

While citizen science is only one piece of the puzzle for conservation efforts, it is a valuable one. Besides the data it generates, this volunteer effort gives residents an up-close look at a side of Sarasota's ecosystem that not everyone gets to experience.

Sarasota Bay Watch Vice President Brian Jung jokingly gives a pair of scallops a farewell kiss before releasing them back into Sarasota Bay on Aug. 22 during the Great Scallop Search.

Conservationist David Attenborough famously said, "No one will protect the natural world we don't care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced."

Ryan said students also benefited from logging volunteer hours in a unique way. She praised the youth leaders who helped teams collect their transect gear and get on the water quickly.

"It's the longest-standing event we have at Sarasota Bay Watch, and we're super happy to have it at the squadron again, which is a perfect spot for it," she said.

Volunteers made their way back to headquarters to turn in their reports and partake in a provided lunch while swapping stories with other crews about what they found.

Sarasota Bay Watch originally planned to host a second search on the north end of Longboat Key on Sunday. However, threats of lightning prompted organizers to cancel the search in the interest of safety.

The group has several upcoming outdoor events for volunteers, including a monofilament cleanup on Sept. 19. Visit SarasotaBayWatch.org for the full calendar.

Sarasota Bay Watch Executive Director Ronda Ryan passes out boat assignments to volunteer snorkelers for the annual Great Scallop Search on Saturday. The Sarasota Sailing Squadron provided the venue where volunteers coordinated before heading out on the water, and where they met to enjoy lunch while debriefing afterward.

Youth leaders Tanish Anche and Sanjay Velagapudi pass out transect gear so volunteers at Sarasota Bay Watch's Great Scallop Search can conduct their grid-based search for bay scallops.

Sarasota Bay Watch youth leader Tanish Anche helps Pam Silagyi determine where her team of volunteers would be surveying for the Great Scallop Search.

A handy shell display shows snorkelers what shellfish they may encounter in Sarasota Bay, including the bay scallop that was the focus of the Great Scallop Search 2026.

Volunteers listen as Sarasota Bay Watch Executive Director Ronda Ryan outlines the day's itinerary for the Great Scallop Search.

Capt. John Ryan, a Sarasota Bay Watch board member, pilots a boat onto Sarasota Bay to check in on volunteers with the Great Scallop Search. About 95 people helped make this year's survey of local bay scallops a success this year.

Sarasota Bay Explorers volunteered one of its ecotour boats to aid in the Great Scallop Search this year.

Sarasota Bay Explorers' Capt. Billy Duhe points out the direction the guide line should go to divide up the bed of the bay, giving snorkelers a reference point while searching for scallops.

Ninth grader Jackson Slusky and Olga Slusky set the transect line.

Emmie Slusky, 8, eagerly shows the multitude of critters she and her brother, David, 8; found in a matter of minutes during the Great Scallop Search. The family then returned all the marine animals back to Sarasota Bay after recording their finds.

Scupper keeps a close eye on Capt. Mike Westmark's crew members as they prepare to dive into Sarasota Bay for the Great Scallop Search. His boat tackled some deeper waters to get a widespread understanding of the scallop distribution in the bay.

While snorkelers searched for scallops and anything else of note, record keepers on board the boats kept track of their finds.

Snorkelers made note of the living scallops they found in Sarasota Bay, but also of the shells, habitat and interesting marine life they encountered during the Great Scallop Search.

Connor and Curtis Craig returned for a second year participating in the Great Scallop Search as part of the kayak teams. They brought along with them Corbin Craig and Maxim Nekorystnov. Sarasota Bay Watch Executive Director Ronda Ryan, left, thanked the group for being part of one of the organization's longest-standing citizen science events.

author

Dana Kampa

Dana Kampa is the Longboat Key neighbors reporter for the Observer. She first ventured into journalism in her home state of Wisconsin, going on to report community stories everywhere from the snowy mountains of Washington State to the sunny shores of the Caribbean. She has been a writer and photographer for more than a decade, covering what matters most to readers.