December 14, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council selected final measures for Framework Adjustment 34 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan when it met by webinar for its December 7-9, 2021 meeting. The Council also voted to send the framework to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries) for review and implementation. The target implementation date is April 1, 2022, the start of the new scallop fishing year.
In short, the framework contains five distinct actions:
- Updated overfishing limit (OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC) specifications for the 2022 and 2023 fishing years as recommended by the Scientific and Statistical Committee in this report;
- Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) Management Area measures and a total allowable landings limit for the NGOM area;
- 2022 specifications for the scallop fishery, including allocations of access area trips, days-at-sea, and LAGC IFQs, plus 2023 default specifications;
- Fishing trip allocations into available scallop access areas for limited access general category (LAGC) individual fishing quota (IFQ) permit holders; and
- Designations for where fishing can take place in 2022 under the Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program. ∼ The complete list of alternatives considered by the Council is available in this document. ∼