CRYSTAL RIVER -- At 55 and slowly edging into retirement, Sam Lyons jokes there is not much anymore that excites him. But this morning has him positively giddy.

"I've been counting the days," Lyons said, sounding like a kid awaiting the start of junior high school. "It's been a long dry spell."

Their masks, fins and snorkels packed in the boat, Lyons and his wife, Sue, a legal assistant who has taken the day off from work, plan to embark on an underwater treasure hunt.

For the first time in more than seven years, bay scallops are fair game along the North Suncoast, from Aripeka in northern Pasco County to the Suwannee River north of Cedar Key. The season begins today and runs through Sept. 10.

Officials predict there will be between 200 and 300 boats off Crystal River and Homosassa today, weather permitting. Crowds are certain to grow over the holiday weekend and extra marine officers have been called in.

They are in search of a legendary local delicacy.

"A fresh bay scallop is like eating an ear of corn just picked from the patch," said Norm Blake, a University of South Florida professor who has overseen a restocking effort in Citrus. "It's sweet, it's delicate, it's not fishy. There isn't a finer seafood."

Blake's custom license plate reads: Scallp.

Plunging into depths between 2 and 12 feet in the 80-degree water, scallopers scour sea grass beds for signs of the shellfish. Several fit in one's hand, many more in a net. Some people eat the bounty on their boats, preparing them on small propane grills, but most wait until returning to shore.

The novice might find shucking an eye-popping experience, for beneath the shell lies a web of innards, including a vivid orange-and-white gonad. A knife or spoon easily clears the mess away, though, leaving only the tasty muscle plug.

"A little butter and garlic just brings out the flavor," said 28-year-old Mike Morgret of Crystal River, who will have his scallops no other way than sauteed.

They are ready to eat in less than five minutes, and locals often like to wash them down with a couple of long-neck beers.

State officials temporarily curbed scallop harvesting in 1994 and announced a formal ban a year later, when it was evident the fragile population was headed toward extinction, due in part to loss of habitat and harvesting that bordered on the greedy.

Nowhere else, perhaps, was the prohibition felt more than Citrus County, where scalloping had evolved into a hugely popular family event and drew hordes of tourists that enriched a community otherwise sluggish in the heat of summer.

"It was the premier event," Lyons reminisced. "It developed into a kind of cultural activity."

Scallops have led a precarious existence in Florida. Once abundant along the entire Gulf Coast, they began to disappear from Charlotte Harbor, south of Sarasota, in the 1950s.

The trend slowly worked its way north, diminishing in Tampa Bay in the late 1960s, and along the Anclote River the following decade. Citrus County first showed signs of stress in the late 1980s.

Scientists attribute the decline to loss of habitat. As construction boomed, stormwater runoff full of nutrients and pollutants streamed into the bays. Algae thrived, decreasing sunlight to the bottom. The sea grass beds that scallops live among were choked to death.

Between 1993 and 1998, no more than 15 scallops per 600 square meters were counted in Citrus County. But in 1999, the number increased to nearly 29, just above the threshold the state considers healthy enough for fishing.

The following year amazed even the most optimistic: There were 242 scallops per 600 square meters, according to a census by the Florida Marine Research Institute. In 2001, the number jumped to 299, making Citrus the richest habitat in all of Florida.

Researchers are not exactly sure what accounts for this turnaround but suspect the ban played a role, as did restocking efforts.

Some are even more convinced of the latter, given census figures released last week, which showed the population dipped to 52 per 600 square meters. There was no restocking during the past year.

"People are going to work a bit harder for them," said Bill Arnold, who conducts the survey for the research institute.

That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Veteran scallopers say gatherings on the water with family and friends are as much a draw as gorging on the critters. Take Lyons and his wife. They plan to get their limit -- 2 gallons in the shell per person -- and spend the rest of the day trolling for new friends.

"You're in the water, and you see the diversity of the bottom, the weaving grass, sponges, fish," said Lyons, who grew up in Crystal River. "To me, this is the equivalent of a kid going to Disney World."

-- Alex Leary can be reached at (352) 564-3623 or leary@sptimes.com.

The rules

Recreational harvesters are limited to 2 gallons of scallops in the shell, or one pint of meat, per day. No more than 10 gallons of whole scallops, or a half-gallon of meat, may be aboard a boat at any time. Scallopers ages 16 to 64 need a saltwater fishing license. The licenses cost $13.50 at tax collector's offices or $14 at bait shops.

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