Tampa Bay Watch’s dedication to the protection and restoration of Tampa Bay has caused other groups to follow in their footsteps. The newly created Sarasota Bay Watch celebrates its launch with the Sarasota Bay Great Scallop Search on Saturday, August 23 starting at 9 a.m.

To participate in the Sarasota scallop search, sign up at www.sarasotabaywatch.org/Contact_Us.html. Meet at Ken Thompson Park in Sarasota at 9 a.m. for a mandatory boater’s meeting. Bring your own snorkel to explore the seagrass flats for scallops. It all helps scientists monitor the progress of scallops in Sarasota Bay. Scallops are protected here, so no harvesting. Free lunch and t-shirt are provided and the event is free.

Plenty of Floridians active in the outdoors know of the work Tampa Bay Watch has done for scallops and habitat in the great bay. Sarasota Bay Watch hopes to do the same for the smaller, but equally fragile Sarasota Bay.

“Sarasota Bay Watch started as a spinoff to Solutions To Avoid Red Tide (START),” said Rusty Chinnis, Executive Director of Sarasota Bay Watch. “Quickly, we realized it should be its own independent organization. Tampa Bay Watch and Peter Clark (TBW executive director) were a guide for our new organization.”