Two bills supported by recreational and commercial shellfishermen are advancing in the General Assembly and are expected to be voted on the floor of the Legislature before the end of the session.

Rep. John Scott, R-Groton, said Wednesday that the bills have stayed alive through the Environment and Appropriations committees.

One of the bills calls for the state Department of Public Health to produce a report by Jan. 1, 2016, about the viability and need for establishing a shellfish testing lab east of the Connecticut River. The original bill would have created the lab at the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus in Groton, but it was modified into a bill to study the concept instead.

“We’ll take what action we can get at this point,” Scott said.

Shellfishing supporters in eastern Connecticut have been asking for the lab after a state Bureau of Aquaculture employee who carried water and meat samples from eastern Connecticut to the state lab in Milford was transferred last year and the courier service was not replaced.

Since then, volunteer shellfish commissioners and commercial shellfishermen have had to drive the samples to Milford for the testing required to keep the beds open.

The bill also would allow the harvest of 2½-inch oysters if they are cultivated in cages. That is one-half inch smaller than the current legal size.

The second bill would create a council to oversee promotion of the state’s shellfishing industry and oversee the state Bureau of Aquaculture, a division of the state Department of Agriculture.

The council would oversee the state’s aquaculture policies and procedures and “afford whistleblower protections to employees of state shellfish grounds lessees who make complaints concerning the administrations of such leases.”

Scott said passage of this bill would be an important step toward easing tensions between the bureau and some shellfishermen and would help modify what some describe as an overly harsh regulatory environment.

j.benson@theday.com

Twitter: @BensonJudy