September 26, 2022 — The New England Fishery Management Council said it plans to discuss a controversial limited access scallop fisher license allocation leasing plan at its September Council Meeting in Gloucester Tuesday.
“The leasing discussion is not going to come up before lunch,” NEFMC spokeswoman Janice Plante said. “So if they’re only there for the leasing discussion, that’s in the afternoon.”
Scallop allocation leasing — the practice of boat owners selling days and tonnage from a fishing license to other vessel owners to harvest in restricted zones — has been at the center of debate in the Port of New Bedford since the NEFMC held two scoping meetings at the New Bedford Whaling Museum on May 11 and May 25 respectively.
Scoping process
During its three month-long scoping process, the NEFMC invited stakeholders to attend nine meetings in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, and two webinars.
The only state that saw multiple meetings was Massachusetts, with one in Gloucester on April 27, and the two New Bedford meetings.
The meetings in New Bedford were the most well attended by far, with 160 and 80 participants respectively, 60% of the total 397 attendees at all meetings recorded by the Council.
77 of the 305 comments submitted to the NEFMC were presented orally. 58% of those were given at the New Bedford meetings.