Danvers, MA - At its January 23-25 meeting, the New England Fishery Management Council approved an action that would increase the number of fishing days available for certain scallop vessels and would allow restricted access to two areas off the mid-Atlantic coast that are now closed to scalloping. The vote for Framework Adjustment 14 to the Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan (FMP) was based on the greatly improved condition of the sea scallop resource and information provided in the Council’s Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS). The DSEIS analyzed the potential impacts of the action on the scallop resource as well as economic and social impacts on the fishing industry. The Council also considered effects of the measures on habitat, bycatch, safety at sea, and endangered species. The Council anticipates that the management change will take effect in late April or May 2001.

The Council’s actions come on the heels of good news that the scallop resource on Georges Bank and in the mid- Atlantic areas has not only increased dramatically in recent years, but is at record high levels. The effects of the Council’s area closures, an extraordinary abundance of spawning age scallops, and fishing effort reductions have all contributed to the improved condition of the stock.

The changes in Framework 14 are expected to allow landings of scallops to increase from 33 million pounds in 2000 to as much as 45 million pounds in 2001, while allowing scallop biomass to continue increasing. Net revenues through 2004 are expected to increase by $212 million dollars as a result of the Framework Adjustment 14 measures. Council Executive Director Paul Howard said, “The positive turn-around in the scallop fishery demonstrates that effective fisheries management and collaboration with the fishing industry can reap huge benefits to consumers, fishermen and fishing communities.”

The following Framework 14 decisions were made based on comments from the public, scallop industry participants and the analyses in the DSEIS:

• Increase the annual days-at-sea allocations in 2001 and 2002 to 120 days for full-time vessels, 48 days for part-time vessels, and 10 days for vessels in the occasional category. Prior to the most current information on stock status, the days-at-sea allocation was scheduled to decrease to 49 days-at-sea for full-time vessels. Other categories would have experienced a similar decrease. There are approximately 340 limited access scallop permits issued and 276 active fishing vessels, which use about 80 percent of their day-at-sea allocations.
• Close no additional areas. At present, there are three large areas closed to scallop fishing on Georges Bank. The areas that would open in Hudson Canyon and off Virginia Beach/North Carolina would close again after the assigned Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for the areas are harvested. Both areas were closed in early 1998 to protect small scallops that have now grown to optimum size.
• Set the TAC for the Hudson Canyon and Virginia Beach/North Carolina Areas based on a low fishing mortality rate. The low rate would allow the fishery to harvest only 20 percent of the existing biomass in these areas. Projections indicate that this conservative approach would allow biomass to remain at high levels and well above the management targets set by the Council. The TACs would allow three trips for each scallop vessel holding limited access permit. Trips could be taken in either or both of the two areas.
• Allow vessels with general category scallop permits and not subject to days-at-sea restrictions to possess no more than 100 pounds of sea scallops while the vessel is in the Hudson Canyon and Virginia Beach/North Carolina Areas. The scallop possession limit for these vessels elsewhere is 400 pounds. The measure addresses the Council’s concern that the higher possession limit could allow a large, open-access fishery for scallops in the rebuilt areas.
• Establish a 50 U.S. bushel shell-stock possession limit on trips south of 42°20’ N latitude for limited access scallop vessels. This limit would only apply inshore of the scallop days-at-sea monitoring line and would prevent the practice of deck-loading sea scallops and shucking them outside of the day-at-sea program. The Scallop FMP currently limits the crew size to seven to restrain fishing capacity and encourage vessels to fish for easier-to-shuck large scallops. The possession limit would not apply north of 42°20’ N latitude in order to exempt small-scale, inshore scallop fisheries in the Gulf of Maine.