Atlantic Sea Scallop Archives

NGOM scallop season wraps up at derby pace

April 15, 2026 — The 2026 Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) scallop season came to a close just 12 days after opening, as NOAA Fisheries shut down the high-value spring fishery effective April 13 at 12:01 a.m.

The quick turnaround comes as little surprise to fishermen who entered the season expecting a fast burn under a significantly reduced quota. For 2026, total allowable landings were set for 484,753 pounds, with a usable set-aside of 437,867 pounds after research and observer deductions– down sharply from 675,563 pounds in 2025.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Hidden scallops scheme lands New Jersey captain, dealer in federal court

April 15, 2026 — A New Jersey Captain and seafood dealer have been sentenced in federal court after NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement uncovered what officials described as a lucrative scheme to illegally harvest and sell excess scallops.

The case began in April 2021, when enforcement officers boarded the captain’s vessel and discovered scallops concealed in a hidden compartment– an initial finding that would lead to a four-year investigation involving NOAA special agents and officers, with assistance from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

New Jersey Captain and Seafood Buyer Found Guilty of a Multiyear Scallop Harvest Conspiracy

April 13, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement uncovered a lucrative scheme devised by a New Jersey captain and seafood dealer to illegally harvest and sell excess scallops. The captain and dealer pleaded guilty; they were sentenced in federal court for conspiracy to commit offense or defraud the United States.

On August 4, 2025, the captain was sentenced to a $10,000 fine, 6-month home confinement, and 2-year term of probation. He has been prohibited from holding a NOAA Fisheries Operator Permit or commercial fishing permit and from completing any Fishing Vessel Trip Reports. On April 22, 2025, the dealer was sentenced to a $4,000 fine and a 2-year term of probation.

This case began in April 2021, when our officers boarded the defendant’s vessel and located scallops concealed in a hidden compartment. Two NOAA Fisheries special agents and our enforcement officers conducted an investigation that lasted more than four years. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection officers assisted us in the investigation.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

NOAA closing Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area on Monday morning

April 13, 2026 — Just a dozen days after it opened, NOAA Fisheries is closing the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area to all federally permitted limited access general category scallop vessels effective Monday at 12:01 a.m.

As of Monday, no scallop vessel fishing under federal scallop regulations may fish for, possess, or land scallops in or from the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area, NOAA said.

NOAA set the total allowable landing limit at 484,753 pounds for the season, down from 675,563 pounds in 2025. Scallop regulations require closure of the management area once NOAA projects that 100% of the 2026 Northern Gulf of Maine Set-Aside — 437,867 pounds in 2026 — will be taken. The closure will be in effect until the end of the fishing year on March 31, 2027.

Northern Gulf of Maine scallop payday

April 7, 2026 — Scalloping is usually easy pickings when the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) management area opens on April 1, and boats come from all over the northeast coast to harvest their 200-pound-a-day limit of big, clean scallops. But fisherman Brady Lybarger of Cape May, N.J., reports that catches are dropping off fast.

On the third day of the season, Lybarger had to make 6 tows to get his four buckets. “None of them more than 12 minutes,” he says. “We were in by 3 o’clock. But the scallops aren’t as thick as they were last year. On April 4, we made 9 tows, up to 25 minutes, and I heard some guys made 15.” But Lybarger notes the scallops are still good size and quality. “We’re getting U12s,” he says, referring to the scallops running less than 12 meats to the pound. “The price is down from last year, but it’s still $30 a pound. I’ll take that all day.”

Despite the drop in catch per unit of effort, Lybarger expects a short season. “Do the math,” he says. “One hundred eighty boats, 200 pounds a day, a roughly 400,000-pound quota. That’s 11 days. If we get anything over that, it’s a bonus.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Local Catch Network backs fishermen-first businesses with new federal funding

March 31, 2026 — Dayboat scallops from inshore waters — known for their succulent texture and optimal balance of buttery and briny flavors — are unlike any other, according to Downeast Dayboat founder Togue Brawn.

Most scallops can take many days — if not weeks — to reach shore after they are harvested, but dayboat scallops are brought back within 24 hours to be sold, packaged, shipped or frozen.

Brawn launched Downeast Dayboat in 2011 to share the product she loves with customers nationwide. While the business showed promise, Brawn said her technical savvy didn’t match her passion. She searched for business consultants who could help her plan for long-term stability and growth but worried they would be too expensive or prioritize profit over her commitment to supporting Maine seafood.

Then she applied to join the Local Catch Network, an organization anchored at the University of Maine that offers free business and technical assistance, scientific research and networking opportunities for seafood businesses nationwide. The goal is to grow community-based seafood systems by supporting businesses committed to the well-being of their coastal communities and marine ecosystems.

“As someone who wants to promote local seafood, I can’t just hire a consultant that’s going to focus on profit,” Brawn said. “The original impetus for this business was to get fishermen more money, not to make money for myself. While I realize I can only advance my mission if I stay in business, which requires turning a profit, I don’t ever want to lose sight of why I started this all.”

Since the Local Catch Network was co-founded in 2011 by Joshua Stoll, UMaine associate professor of marine policy, it has helped more than 70 community-based seafood businesses like Downeast Dayboat across New England, Florida, Alaska, California and Puerto Rico.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NGOM scallopers brace for lower quota as 2026 season reopens

March 31, 2026 — The Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) scallop fleet is set to get back to work April 1, but as fishermen prepare for the final stretch of the spring season, they’re doing so under a significantly smaller quota than last year.

Under NOAA Fisheries Framework Adjustment 20, total allowable landings (TAL) for the 2026 fishing year are set at 484,753 pounds – down from 675,563 pounds in 2025, when the fishery reopened April 21 under Framework 39.

After deductions to support research and observer coverage, the usable NGOM set-aside for 2026 comes in at 437,867 pounds, according to a March 27 NOAA Fisheries bulletin. The agency notes it will “closely monitor” landings and close the fishery once the set-aside is reached.

Despite the lower quota, the structure of the fishery remains familiar. Vessels are still limited to 200 pounds of shelled scallop meat per trip, with the opportunity to land up to 325 pounds on a trip with an observer through a 125-pound observer compensation credit.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: Oil and water: Inside the ‘mystery’ oil spills casting a sheen on New Bedford Harbor

March 30, 2026 — Anyone walking down New Bedford’s Pier 3 can see the state of the commercial scalloping fleet, rusty trawlers and all. Less obvious are the subtle sheens of “mystery” oil spills leaking into the harbor’s waters.

Trace amounts of diesel and other fossil fuels — especially in older boats — can leak into the vessel’s bilge water and spill into the ocean, where their origins are nearly impossible to trace. These spills can impact water quality and get stuck in the harbor sediment.

At one point, Buzzards Bay Coalition estimated that these so-called “mystery” spills occur in the harbor once every eight days. Coalition President Mark Rasmussen believes that number is likely higher.

“Those are just the spills that are reported,” Rasmussen said. “It’s considered commonplace in a lot of spots of the harbor here to see oil in a way that just doesn’t happen in other places.”

These spills average between 5 and 20 gallons of oil per spill, Rasmussen added.

Although harbor workers and local officials are required by law to report oil spills or visible sheens to the U.S. Coast Guard, these smaller spills often go undetected, Rasmussen said, either dispersing on their own or sinking into the sediment on the harbor floor.

These spills are particularly common among the aging scallop fleet. Many scallop boats are between 30 and 50 years old, making it one of the oldest fleets in the U.S., behind Pacific salmon trolling boats.

The problem is worse in New Bedford than in other ports, in part because it doesn’t have a facility to pump oily bilge out of boats.

The oil pollution also brings up long-term questions: how can New Bedford’s fishing fleet adapt to use less diesel fuel? And someday, could the fishing fleet even go electric?

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

MAINE: UMaine’s Local Catch Network: Bolstering seafood businesses and coastal communities nationwide

March 26, 2026 — Dayboat scallops from inshore waters — known for their succulent texture and optimal balance of buttery and briny flavors — are unlike any other, according to Downeast Dayboat founder Togue Brawn.

Most scallops can take many days — if not weeks — to reach shore after they are harvested, but dayboat scallops are brought back within 24 hours to be sold, packaged, shipped or frozen.

Then she applied to join the Local Catch Network, an organization anchored at the University of Maine that offers free business and technical assistance, scientific research and networking opportunities for seafood businesses nationwide. The goal is to grow community-based seafood systems by supporting businesses committed to the well-being of their coastal communities and marine ecosystems.

Read the full article at the University of Maine

UConn Helps Sea Scallop Communities Adapt to Ocean Warming

March 17, 2026 — A combination of conservation measures has helped the industry weather the effects of overfishing. Now, warming and acidifying oceans are posing new threats and prompting new solutions.

A team of researchers co-led by UConn Associate Professor of Marine Sciences Samantha Siedlecki, Shannon Meseck, of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and Robert “Bobby” Murphy, a social scientist with NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, is exploring how environmental data can be used to develop a new management approach adapted for and responsive to a changing ocean. With the support of a three-year grant of just over $1 million from NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), the project will integrate oceanographic modeling, industry engagement, and socioeconomic research to create actionable strategies for industry and management. The project is one of six announced by OAP in November aimed at helping U.S. coastal communities adapt to ocean acidification.

“This is one of the earliest attempts to forecast optimal regions for Atlantic sea scallop growth, based on both carbon content and ocean temperature,” says Siedlecki.

Ocean acidification occurs when carbon dioxide (CO₂₎ sent into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels and other human activity is absorbed by the oceans. Like sponges, the oceans of the world soak up about one-third of the CO₂generated by humans. Once dissolved in seawater, the CO₂ forms carbonic acid, which increases acidity and reduces the carbonate ions that shell-building sea life, like sea scallops, need to form shells and skeletons.

Read the full article at UConn Today