Sarasota Bay Watch released its first batch of 2014 scallop in early March, thanks to a donation of 2000 juvenile scallops from the Bay Shellfish Company. These scallops (shown) were grown at the Bay Shellfish Co. hatchery from a spawn in October 2013! They will be full sized adults in late summer 2014.
SBW also put on a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Workshop for area middle school students, as part of an annual event sponsored by the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and hosted by the State College of Florida. The SBW workshop provided hands-on learning about marine food chains and ecosystems, a close up look at live bay scallops, understanding nutrient impacts in our watershed and water quality testing of bay water with and without fertilizer present. It was a day full of fun science!