SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Scientists have released a million scallop larvae into Sarasota Bay in hopes of re-establishing a colony there.

This week’s release is part of a project to re-establish scallop colonies all along the southwestern Florida coast. It has been without scallops for decades.

The Bradenton Herald reported (http://bit.ly/10iG1fX ) Thursday that about 8 million scallop larvae have been released since last December and up to 40 million more will be released. It will probably take 10 years for the colonies to begin thriving.

The scientists are hoping that cleaner water, more lush seagrass and better policing to prevent overfishing will help the scallops rebound.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.