Saving Seafood

NOAA could take lead on scallop permit-stacking

September 22, 2026 — The New England Fishery Management Council will not prioritize scallop permit-stacking in 2027, potentially leaving NOAA to pursue the controversial permitting change through a federal process.

The council voted overwhelmingly last week to tell federal officials that it “lacks the operational capacity” to take up permit-stacking next year, according to reporting from The New Bedford Light.

The decision follows federal officials’ July request that the council consider six fisheries management actions stemming from President Trump’s 2025 executive order, “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness.” The order called for reducing regulatory burdens and strengthening U.S. seafood competitiveness.

Of those requests, NOAA would develop the regulatory changes rather than the council, while still providing opportunities for council and public input. Scallop permits have been tied to individual vessels for decades. Permit-stacking would allow owners to place more than one permit on a vessel, potentially allowing that vessel to make additional trips while owners retire older boats from their fleets.

The proposal, however, has divided members of the scallop industry.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

New England regulators won’t make scallop ‘permit-stacking’ a priority in 2027

September 21, 2026 — The New England Fishery Management Council won’t make a controversial scallop permit-stacking proposal a priority in 2027. That’s despite federal officials directing the regulators to do just that.

The council voted overwhelmingly last week to respond to the federal government’s early July request by saying that it “lacks the operational capacity” to take action on the permitting change next year.

Federal officials handed down six requests for the council to discuss, a byproduct of a 2025 Trump Administration executive order aimed at ending “overregulation” and the “erosion of American seafood competitiveness at the hands of unfair foreign trade practices.”

Only one of them, the permit-stacking request, had this caveat: If the council can’t take up the permit stacking issue, federal officials are prepared to consider doing it themselves.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

New England Fishery Management Council implementing measures to respond to Trump executive order

September 21, 2026 — The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) has implemented multiple measures intended to directly address an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump that included a deregulatory wish list featuring desired changes to fisheries the council manages.

During its September 2026 meeting, the council committed to considering some of the measures that Trump proposed in his order, including opening scallop fishery access to the Northern Edge area of Georges Bank. Trump’s order directly called on the NEFMC to open the Northern Edge area, which would mark the first time in 30 years that fishing for scallops would be allowed in the region.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Council Addresses Executive Order and NOAA Directives through 2027 Work Priorities

September 21, 2026 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

During its September 2026 Council Meeting the New England Fishery Management Council addressed multiple management priorities that were identified by NOAA in a July 2, 2026 letter regarding Executive Order 14276, “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness”. Updates and Council next steps on each item are outlined below. The Council will send an official response to NOAA by September 30, 2026.

IMPLEMENT ROTATIONAL ACCESS FOR THE NORTHERN EDGE SCALLOP FISHERY

The Council committed to considering scallop fishery access to the Northern Edge during the 2027 priority setting process at the December 2026 meeting. NOAA had requested the Council establish a controlled, rotational limited-access scallop fishery within the Northern Edge Habitat Areas of Particular Concern. This will allow time to evaluate the request alongside all potential 2027 priorities. The Council considered four potential management options to open the area to scalloping including a holistic habitat management review; a dedicated habitat action; a scallop action that builds on previous analyses and alternatives; or not including this work as 2027 priorities which could lead to a Secretarial Action. The Northern Edge is currently designated a Habitat Management Area, which closes it to dragging gear to minimize impacts on essential fish habitat for Atlantic cod, American lobster, Atlantic herring, among other species.

IMPLEMENT SCALLOP PERMIT STACKING

NOAA tasked the Council with pursuing an action on scallop permit stacking but due to capacity constraints, the Council will not include this issue as a 2027 priority, deferring to NOAA and a potential Secretarial Action. While the Council does not have a position on stacking permits, it last took up the issue of consolidation at the September 2022 meeting when it opted not to develop an action to allow leasing in the Limited Access component of the fishery following a scoping process. At the time, the Council cited concerns about job losses and other negative economic impacts on waterfront communities as reasons for not developing an action. The July 2026 NOAA letter also cited these associated risks of stacking including “foreign ownership, job reductions, and erosion of our critical working waterfronts.” Proponents of stacking cite the economic relief of reduced operational costs, reduced congestion in ports and while fishing, and the ability to fish two allocations on their safest and best vessel.

Meet the Autonomous Underwater Robot Expanding Our Ability to Survey the Seafloor

August 31, 2026 — For the past 3 years, our Habitat Camera (HabCam) Survey has had self-propelled underwater helpers. From June 30 to July 6 of this year, two Tethys-class long-range autonomous underwater vehicles, or LRAUVs, surveyed more than 200 nautical miles of pre-programmed track lines in the Mid-Atlantic. Together, they captured more than 68,000 images of the seafloor, collecting critical data used in fisheries stock assessments.

LRAUVs provide an alternative way to survey areas of the ocean where traditional research vessels cannot go because of offshore development. The data they collect complements our vessel-based HabCam Survey, which collects millions of seafloor images each year to understand Atlantic sea scallop populations.

Technology Strengthens the Sea Scallop Assessment

Our scientists identified sea scallops, fish, crabs, snake eels, squid, skates, and more in the seafloor images taken by LRAUVs this year. They will present these data, along with HabCam Survey data, to the New England Fishery Management Council at the end of August. The Council’s Scallop Plan Development Team will incorporate the data into the Atlantic sea scallop assessment. Ultimately, the data help generate more accurate estimates of sea scallop abundance and distribution to inform management decisions.

Advanced Technology Specialist Cameron Fairclough notes that this technology expands where and when we can collect data. “This autonomous underwater vehicle can image the seafloor and you can control it from your phone while it’s out in the middle of the ocean,” he explained.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

MASSACHUSETTS: Scallopalooza Returns to New Bedford With Bigger Crowds and a High-Stakes Shucking Contest

August 10, 2026 — Scallopalooza is back. The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is celebrating the fishing industry on Thursday, August 13 with the second annual Scallopalooza. The event is a three-hour party that features vendors, food, and music, plus the much-anticipated scallop-shucking contest to determine the best shucker in the area.

Joe Ritter, Programs Director at the FHC, visited Townsquare Sunday to promote the event. “It will be a smashing success,” Ritter said. “I’m calling it now.”

Last year’s Scallopalooza drew about 500 people to downtown New Bedford, but bigger crowds are anticipated this year, prompting organizers to make a small change in the event’s layout.

New Layout and Jumbotron Added for Bigger Crowds

This year’s shucking contest will move slightly from the FHC parking lot to Bethel and Elm Streets, with the downward slope of the street providing a type of amphitheater for spectators. There will also be a large Jumbotron screen located behind the stage to provide a closer look at the stage.

Read the full artilcle at WBSM

Trump administration aims to cut regulations on US commercial fishing

July 2, 2026 — The Trump administration moved to slash commercial fishing regulations from coast to coast on Thursday, including reopening New ‌England waters to scallop fishing that was banned after overfishing.

“We’re opening the Atlantic and the Pacific, and the American consumers are going to benefit from what we’re doing now,” White House adviser Peter Navarro said in a briefing with reporters.

The Commerce Department and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced regional ​priorities that the government said were designed to revitalize the seafood sector.

It was not clear how NOAA planned to ​implement these priorities or how long it would take, given their scope.

Read the full article at Reuters

Trump administration seeking to reopen Northern Edge scallop grounds

July 2, 2026 — President Donald Trump on Thursday declared July 2 National Scallops Day. To mark the inaugural holiday, he announced his administration’s plan to open fishing grounds that have been closed since 1994: the Northern Edge.

The area is about an 18- to 20-hour steam from the nation’s scallop capital, New Bedford, and it’s been closed so long that younger generations of fishermen have never fished its bottom.

“Are you here to wish me a ‘Happy Scalloper Day?’” Tony Alvernaz, one of the older-generation scallopers who has fished that small tip of Georges Bank, quipped when he answered the phone.

“Everybody is like amen, about time, holy Jesus,” he said of the plans to reopen the area.

In recent years, fisheries regulators raised the possibility of reopening the sliver of ocean bottom, but ultimately voted not to take it up. Regulators, informed by research scientists, weigh the sustainability of the resource and the needs of the fishing industry when determining where fishermen can go, for how many days, and how many pounds they may catch.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Trump celebrates expanded scallop fishing with ‘National Scallops Day’ declaration

July 2, 2026 — President Donald Trump on Thursday declared a “National Scallops Day” in celebration of a federal decision to expand commercial scallop fishing on the Georges Bank, saying it will boost seafood production, create jobs, and reverse restrictions imposed under previous administrations.

Trump announced the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will open the Northern Edge of Georges Bank to scallop fishing, a move he said would result in “millions more pounds” of wild scallops for American consumers each year. He also said it will benefit fishing communities along the East Coast.

Read the full article at KMPH

CFF Receives New Funding to Expand Electronic Monitoring in the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery

July 1, 2026 — The following was released by the Coonamessett Farm Foundation:

The Coonamessett Farm Foundation (CFF) recently received additional funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s competitive Electronic Monitoring and Reporting Grant Program to further expand the use of electronic monitoring (EM) technologies in the Atlantic sea scallop fishery.

In addition to the $449,000 award from NFWF to support project objectives, fishing partners have pledged a combined cost-share of $756,000 underscoring their commitment to these efforts during the project period.

Stock assessment biologists with NOAA Fisheries have identified a decline in scallop biomass over consecutive years, likely influenced by environmental factors including rising ocean temperatures in addition to a predator population surge in species like sea stars and crabs that prey heavily upon juvenile scallops. Fishing practices such as prolonged tow-times, deck loading, and high grading are also known to negatively impact scallop beds and the survivability of discarded animals.

The use of EM is widely considered a successful tool for reducing monitoring costs while improving data collection, vessel trip coordination and safety. This project seeks to develop a better understanding of implementation costs while also evaluating an incentive-based approach that could provide a broader range of data to support management decisions.

Read the full story on: Electronic Monitoring in the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery