That meant that each gatherer was entitled to 20 per day. None under 100mm could be taken.
Many of those seen last week were well under that size, Mr Ferguson rejecting the local theory they are a different variety to those found on the east coast.
West coast scallops might not grow as big as east coast ones but that didn't mean specimens under 100mm were fair game, he said.
One person he encountered on the beach on Thursday had gathered between 700 and 800, he said.
Scallops that washed ashore - on Thursday they were being taken from the shallows, so in fact they had not washed up at all - could also be taken outside the season, he said, but the regulations still applied.
While nature had apparently provided a windfall, it offered no defence against breaching the rules on the daily limit and minimum size.
Another officer said if they were left where they were a good proportion would have returned to deeper water.
One local man, whose wife returned the scallops she had collected to the water on the officers' instruction and left the beach empty-handed, said the rules seemed to have changed.
"We used to be allowed to collect them and now we're not," he said.
"Quite frankly I'm confused.
"And that's the first I've heard of scallops going back out once they've come in. As far as I've always understood it, once they're in knee-deep water they will either be eaten by seagulls or rot on the beach if someone doesn't pick them up."
Mr Ferguson said vehicles had been dotted along the beach on Thursday but tended to scatter as he drove south. He didn't put everyone off though, one gatherer cheerfully saying yes, he had seen the officers, yes, they had said something, but no, he hadn't heard what it was.
"They were talkin' and I kept walkin'," he said.
