NORFOLK, Va. (AP) – An environmental group is considering whether to challenge the federal government’s plan to reopen a large fishing ground off the mid-Atlantic coast for sea scallops.

The National Marine Fisheries Service on Thursday announced plans to open the productive ground to fishers effective January 2007, which would provide significant opportunities for the industry and merchants in the Hampton Roads area.

Sea scallops are worth about $7 per pound on today’s markets.

The fishing ground, however, would close again each fall to protect sea turtles from being killed by powerful dredges used to gather scallops from the ocean’s bottom.

Conservation groups praised the federal government for helping turtles but said the protections don’t go far enough.

David Allison, campaign director for Washington-based Oceana, said Friday the environmental group was still deciding whether to fight the federal plan in court. Oceana has sued the government before over its lack of turtle protections but has not managed to win in court, he said.

Known as the Elephant Trunk for its shape on the ocean’s floor, the approximately 1,000-square-mile fishing ground is located about 50 miles off the Maryland and Delaware coasts. It has been closed for the past three years so baby scallops could grow and spawn.

William DuPaul, a professor and scallop expert at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, said the shutdown has led to significant growth of large, meaty scallops.

“The densities and numbers out there are just mind-boggling,” DuPaul said.

Scallops have become Virginia’s richest seafood resource, generating $92 million in 2004.

About 60 vessels from Virginia take part in the Atlantic scallop fishery. They will be allowed to make five trips during 2007 into the Elephant Trunk, where they can take a maximum of 18,000 pounds per trip.

With the Elephant Trunk’s closure, Virginia fishers have been traveling to a nearby scallop ground known as the Delmarva Area or to New England to fish off Georges Bank.

The rules announced Thursday would close the Delmarva Area, which is a bit south of the Elephant Trunk. Its closure will coincide with the Elephant Trunk’s opening next year.

Federal managers also plan to close portions of Georges Bank.

The actions are the latest measures taken by regulators with an overall plan similar to farming: harvest from one field and leave others fallow for another time.

“We don’t want people going into an area and absolutely wiping it out,” DuPaul said. “Its about optimizing your yield, and planning for the future.”