July 28, 2021 — Saying the proposed offshore wind lease areas in the New York Bight need to be reconsidered to reduce the impact to scallops and scallop fishermen, industry advocates and scallop fishermen called for change during an online call with federal officials July 20.
“The Atlantic sea scallop fishery is the most valuable federally managed fishery in the United States, worth more than $570 million in ex vessel value and $746 million in total processed value in 2019,” according to the Fisheries Survival Fund.
Barnegat Light and Long Beach, N.Y. combined for a total of $19.4 million in the value of scallops landed, according to data from New England Fishery Management Council’s scallop framework adjustment between 2010 and 2017. For 2021, the NEFMC’s scallop update found Atlantic scallops make up the vast majority of landed value in eight of the largest East Coast fishing ports and over 40 percent in four other areas.
During the July 20 call with officials from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, industry representatives highlighted the need for a buffer zone to protect the “most valuable scallop area in the Mid-Atlantic and expressed concern over the environmental and fisheries impacts of offshore wind development,” according to a Fisheries Survival Fund press release issued July 26.
“Damage to the scallop industry will have far reaching consequences for working families in ports through the Atlantic Coast. The harm will extend beyond fishermen and processing plant employees – many of whom are recent immigrants – to fuel docks, marine equipment suppliers, restaurants and markets,” the Fisheries Survival Fund statement reads, noting throughout the entire coast, scallops were valued over $500 million, or half a billion dollars, in processed value in 2019. “This does not include the additional economic value added by the remainder of the supply chain until the product ultimately reaches consumers in markets and restaurants.”