December 12, 2022 — The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) met this week and took final action on the 2023 fishing year specifications for the Atlantic sea scallop fishery. They say that the measures selected are “projected to result in roughly 25 million pounds of landings valued at roughly $398 million.” To compare, this year was 34 million pounds.
Despite biomass being down “considerably” over the past few years, the NEFMC reports that scallops are “not overfished and overfishing is not occurring.” They also referred back to a 2022 survey that was released back in September. That survey found “several areas with new sets of seed scallops, as well as beds with concentrations of smaller scallops that are continuing to grow.” But again, despite positive signs, there are still some concerns, like that the survey also revealed that biomass overall was at its lowest observed level since 1999. The reason highlighted in the survey is because of minimal recruitment over the past several years.