Proposed regulations to protect the declining scallop population will likely reduce how often full-time vessels can drag in some federally-managed scalloping grounds.
This story was originally published in The New Bedford Light, a publication partner of Ocean State Stories.
NEW BEDFORD — New England scallopers are looking at another tough year in 2025, as they prepare for a set of federal regulations to protect both their livelihoods and the Atlantic Ocean’s scallop populations.
If approved by NOAA Fisheries, the new rules, called Scallop Framework 39, will reduce the number of times that full-time vessels can go drag in some federally-managed scalloping grounds — called “access areas” — in the 2025 fishing year. But they will allow these vessels more time to scallop in the open ocean. The start of the access-area scalloping season will also be pushed back from April 1 to May 15, 2025. It will end on March 31, 2026.
These proposed regulations are meant to conserve the fishery resource as it goes through a period of low productivity, regional fisheries managers say. They were developed by the New England Fishery Management Council.
Surveys showed the overall weight of harvestable scallops in New England waters dropped from 2023 to 2024.
Dredge samples of sea scallops collected during the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s 2024 Integrated Sea Scallop and HabCam Research Survey sit on a vessel. Credit: Northeast Fisheries Science Center
Local scallopers and industry representatives say the contents of Framework 39 are not a surprise. Landings have been shrinking over the past four years.
“We’re just tightening the belt, and taking a deep breath, and riding the storm out,” said New Bedford scallop vessel manager and owner Tony Alvernaz.
New scallop growth is unpredictable, though scallopers say the fishery can be cyclical. The good news is that recent surveys showed harvestable scallop populations may start rebounding after 2025.
“I’m hopeful for the future,” said Eric Hansen, a council member on the New England Fishery Management Council and owner of two New Bedford scallop vessels. “We just have to be patient.”
The Atlantic Sea Scallop Research Track Working Group will host a community meeting in New Bedford on Wednesday morning to discuss the changing ecology and management practices in the fishery.
The working group is looking to gather perspectives from fishermen about how they are seeing these changes on the water.
The scallop industry and fisheries managers finalized Scallop Framework 39 at the New England Fishery Management Council’s December meeting. The rules must be reviewed, approved, and implemented by NOAA Fisheries before taking effect.
The Sustainable Scalloping Fund, the Fisheries Survival Fund, and New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell expressed support for the rule package earlier this year.
Under the proposed rules for the 2025 season, full-time vessels would get two access area trips in 2025, to two federally-managed scalloping grounds southeast of Cape Cod.
Each vessel would be limited to one trip to each area, and to catching 12,000 pounds of scallops per trip. It represents a reduction of one access area trip from the 2024 season, from three total trips to two total trips.
The framework would also allocate 24 days at sea to these vessels to fish the open ocean bottom. That represents an increase of four days at sea from last year.
The council projects fishing year 2025 scallop landings would be roughly 20 million pounds under these regulations. That would generate roughly $350 million to the fishery. Hansen said the coming year’s scallop landings will probably be the lowest in the current cycle, which peaked in 2019.
Scallops in the mid-Atlantic have declined over the last few years, which has further depressed landings. The reasons for the decline are unclear.
Some scientists and fishermen believe it may have been related to warm core rings and changing ocean currents. Other fishermen believe it could be related to offshore wind development.
