Feds shut down scallop fishing area
Federal regulators have closed a heavily fished scallop management area in the Northern Gulf of Maine, stating that permitted vessels dragging for scallops in that area had reached their cumulative annual limit of 70,000 pounds.
The Bangor Daily News reported that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration closed the area at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, which is two months earlier than last year’s closure date.
Maine scallopers, who are limited to catching only 200 pounds a day, have complained that larger vessels from southern New England with no daily catch limit have been threatening the long-term viability of the scallop fishery in the Northern Gulf of Maine. Earlier this year, the Associated Press reported scallop fishermen were reaping record prices, with the price at the dock in January being $13.50 a pound, compared to the previous record of $12.70 in 2015.
The closure comes less than a week after U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, wrote a letter to John Bullard, regional administrator of the Greater Atlantic Region Fisheries Office, expressing concerns about overfishing of scallops in that management area.
King and Pingree issued written statements following the NOAA closure.
“The closing of the NGOM scallop management area will at least result in a temporary respite to the problems caused by the flaws in the current management plan, but it also highlights the continued and critical need to develop a more vigorous strategy that meaningfully and fairly accounts for all harvests in the area and doesn’t pit fishermen against one another,” King stated. “The North Atlantic scallop fishery is of high — and increasing — value, and we need to make sure that its management keeps pace with changes in the ecosystem and accounts fairly for all fishermen.”
Pingree added: “Although we know that the smaller boats have caught their annual quota of 70,000 pounds, we don’t know the total number of pounds that have been taken from the NGOM. This closure will not only allow the New England Fishery Management Council to consider changes to some of these loopholes, it will allow NOAA to accurately determine the amount of total catch that has been harvested this season.”
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