Scallop season opened on Monday on the Peconic Bay, but fisherman say they can't find a lot of mature scallops.

Chris Paparo, from Riverhead, says its one of the worst seasons he's seen in years.



"There were four of us, and between the four of us we didn't even fill a bushel, so it was definitely not a good opener," he says.

Scientists like Dr. Chris Gobler, of Stony Brook University, blame the hot summer and intense rust tide algae blooms that killed or stunted scallop growth in the bay.

"People went out looking for scallops before the rust tide found many of them. [They] came back after the rust tide and, really, just found shells. So, pretty good evidence they died during the rust tide," he says.

Scallops have about a two-year life span, so fisherman are hopeful for next year. They have told News 12 they are seeing lots of 1-year-old scallops in the water. If if they do survive, there could be a good crop in 2017.

At the market, scallop prices are about 20 percent higher because of the low harvest. Some predict that prices will rise even further as it gets later into the season and there are fewer scallops to harvest.