Record year for jumping sturgeon on Suwannee

<p>State officials are watching two marine “seasons” come to an end -- one in which at least six people were injured in fresh water and another in which thousands enjoyed time snorkeling and diving along the Gulf Coast.</p><p>Florida's 2011 recreational bay scallop harvest season in the Gulf of Mexico will end Sunday, two weeks later then usual.</p><p>The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission pushed back the last day of the season by two weeks for the second consecutive year. Officials said they lengthened the season in 2010 and again this year to help Gulf communities recover from economic hardships wrought by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.</p><p>State researchers typically conduct a scallop census before the season begins but have not had a way to determine how the season went. This year biologists at FWC's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute's Molluscan Fisheries research group are asking anyone who went scalloping to participate in a survey.</p><p>The online survey at http://svy.mk/bayscallops will continue until the end of the month.</p><p>The other season with a less firm end date is the seasonal jumping by sturgeon on the Suwannee River. This year was a record-setting one in terms of the number of encounters between sturgeon and boaters, officials said.</p><p>Among the 11 encounters reported to FWC, six involved humans being injured -- including two who were seriously injured -- while five others involved sturgeon jumping into boats that were slow-moving, drifting or at a standstill.</p><p>The last human-sturgeon encounter was reported June 19, according to FWC records.</p><p>FWC spokeswoman Karen Parker said the number of sturgeon seen leaping out of the river water has declined noticeably in recent weeks.</p><p>“As the temperature gets cooler, the frequency of the jumps is declining because the sturgeon are leaving the river, which is something they do every year,” Parker said.</p><p>For example, Parker said there were times during the hottest parts of the summer when boaters could see sturgeon jumping as frequently as every 30 seconds. Over the past week, sturgeon have been jumping in about 10-minute intervals, according to Parker.</p><p>Jumping sturgeon attracted nationwide attention in 2006 and 2007 when boaters reported nine encounters with sturgeon in each year. Last year there were no reports of human-sturgeon encounters.</p><p>“There are lots of ideas about why the jump, but we don't really know for sure why they do it,” Parker said. “We do know that if you are gong slower (in a boat), you are less likely to be injured.”</p>