April 14, 2025 — Scallop fishing in Maine has been shut down for most fisherman this season, the NOAA says that the order is effective on Friday.
Scallop fishing regulations require fisheries to close once officials project that 100 percent of the allowed set-aside is taken.
April 11, 2025 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shut down the Gulf of Maine’s scallop fishery Friday.
“As of April 11, 2025, 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’s announcement reads. “The scallop regulations require that we close this area once we project that 100% of the 2025 Northern Gulf of Maine Set-Aside will be taken.”
Members of Maine’s fishing industry have been anticipating the closure, saying regulators delayed finalizing this year’s catch limits amid their transition to the Trump Administration.
“It hasn’t been as easy to get information this year from NOAA fisheries,” said Togue Brawn, a Member of the New England Fishery Management Council and the founder of Downeast Dayboat and Dayboat Blue. “As we know, things are changing with the government, people are getting fired, people are afraid to talk. It’s a little dystopian, and frankly unsettling, and it does a disservice to the fishermen and the employees that are there trying to manage the fishery.”
The fishery shuts down every year once projections show the allowed set-aside for the year will be met, but this closure marks the first time NOAA has closed the fishery in the middle of the season — which some believe poses uncertainty for fishermen who traveled to the southern reaches of the Gulf of Maine fishing area off of Massachusetts.
April 10, 2025 — Students from Deer Isle-Stonington High School, all members of the Eastern Maine Skippers Program, gathered on April 4 at the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries in Stonington to count scallop spat in an effort to predict where beds of the bivalve mollusk might appear.
Spat is the term researchers use to describe post-larval, or juvenile, scallops. These tiny creatures, measuring roughly 1/8 inch, will mature over time into the delicious scallops treasured by diners.
The spat, members of the species Plactopecten magellanicus, or Atlantic deep-sea scallop, are found from North Carolina to the Gulf of St Lawrence. Local scallops are either harvested in the wild near shore or raised in one of several local aqua farms in and around Penobscot Bay.
April 10, 2025 — Fishermen are likely to be restricted from hauling scallops from federal waters in the Gulf of Maine for several weeks because regulators have delayed finalizing annual catch limits.
The temporary closure, expected in the next five days, would mark the first time the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has shut down the regional fishery midseason since the regulations were put into place 16 years ago. Those who dive for scallops near Maine’s coast are unaffected; federal waters begin 3 miles offshore.
NOAA typically passes annual rules by April 1, when the federal scalloping season kicks off. But without them, there is a stopgap measure in place that permits a limited amount of fishing. That limit has almost been reached.
Members of Maine’s fishing community say regulators at NOAA Fisheries have been challenged by the transition to a new presidential administration, a typical problem, and the federal staffing cutbacks that are part of President Donald Trump’s initiative to slash government spending.
April 9, 2025 — A new study from the University of Maine’s Aquaculture Research Institute and Darling Marine Center is helping to refine best practices for growing Atlantic sea scallops, a species of increasing interest to Maine’s aquaculture sector.
Published in the academic journal Aquaculture, the research compares two scallop farming methods, ear-hanging and lantern net culture, over a complete grow-out cycle to determine which approach yields the best results for commercial growers. The study, led by UMaine postdoctoral researcher Christopher Noren, provides new insights into how each method influences scallop size and adductor muscle weight, a key factor in market value.
April 7, 2025 — A new study from the University of Maine’s Aquaculture Research Institute and Darling Marine Center is helping to refine best practices for growing Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus), a species of increasing interest to Maine’s aquaculture sector.
Published in the academic journal Aquaculture, the research compares two scallop farming methods, ear-hanging and lantern net culture, over a complete grow-out cycle to determine which approach yields the best results for commercial growers, according to a news release from UMaine.
The study, led by UMaine postdoctoral researcher Christopher Noren, provides new insights into how each method influences scallop size and adductor muscle weight, a key factor in market value.
Evaluating Two Common Farming Methods
Maine’s scallop aquaculture industry is still in its early stages, and growers are looking for efficient ways to scale up production. Suspended culture is the most common approach, with farmers typically using multi-tiered lantern nets to grow scallops to a harvestable size. However, this method requires frequent maintenance to manage biofouling — an unwanted accumulation of microorganisms, plants and animals — and to optimize growth conditions.
Ear-hanging, a technique adapted from Japanese scallop farming, offers a potential alternative. This method involves drilling a small hole in the scallop’s shell and suspending it on a line, allowing for better water flow and potentially reducing maintenance needs.
To evaluate the effectiveness of each method, researchers partnered with two commercial scallop farms in Maine’s Penobscot Bay and Frenchman Bay. Over four years, they measured scallop growth and the weight of their adductor muscles, the primary product from scallops that are sold in U.S. seafood markets.
April 1, 2025 — A new study from the University of Maine’s Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI) and Darling Marine Center is helping to refine best practices for growing Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus), a species of increasing interest to Maine’s aquaculture sector.
Published in the academic journal Aquaculture, the research compares two scallop farming methods, ear-hanging and lantern net culture, over a complete grow-out cycle to determine which approach yields the best results for commercial growers. The study, led by UMaine postdoctoral researcher Christopher Noren, provides new insights into how each method influences scallop size and adductor muscle weight, a key factor in market value.
Maine’s scallop aquaculture industry is still in its early stages, and growers are looking for efficient ways to scale up production. Suspended culture is the most common approach, with farmers typically using multi-tiered lantern nets to grow scallops to a harvestable size. However, this method requires frequent maintenance to manage biofouling—an unwanted accumulation of microorganisms, plants and animals—and to optimize growth conditions.
April 1, 2025 — Nantucket scallopers will have an extra 11 days to rake in bay scallops thanks to the state Division of Marine Fisheries OKing an extension of the season requested by the Select Board last month.
Both recreational and commercial scalloping season were set to end Monday but state environmental officials granted an extension to April 11 because there are plenty of scallops left in the harbor that will likely die before next year if not caught, Division of Marine Fisheries director Daniel McKiernan wrote in a letter to the Select Board Friday.
The state conducted a bay scallop resource investigation of Nantucket Harbor last week and determined that, “in proportion to immature seed bay scallops there is an abundance of adult bay scallops that will not be harvested prior to the termination of the normal bay scallop season,” McKiernan wrote. “It is believed that most of these adult scallops are unlikely to live long enough to spawn again this coming summer.”
“These adult scallops need to be fished and the fishermen really deserve to have these extra days. And I’m sure the general public will enjoy having fresh scallops available to them for a little bit longer,” Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board chair Andy Lowell said last month when asking the Select Board to petition the state for the extension.
He noted at that time that there were plenty of scallops and not many fishermen catching them.
November 14, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
In September 2024, my colleague Shannon Meseck and I took a road trip up north to Canada, to visit a research lab in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. The St. Andrews Biological Station is a part of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Canadian equivalent to NOAA Fisheries. Though the oldest of Canada’s Atlantic research facilities, the lab features state-of-the-art seawater systems with capacity to do climate and aquatic research.
This project was a transboundary collaboration with climate scientist Helen Gurney-Smith to study climate change stressors on Atlantic sea scallop larvae. It was funded by the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program. The larval period, typically the first 3 weeks of a sea scallop’s life, is particularly challenging for bivalve shellfish because they are planktonic, or free-floating in the water column. During this period, larvae are subject to heavy predation and are transported through ocean currents. The water they are exposed to is constantly changing with environmental conditions, and pulses of warm and/or low pH water are becoming more common with climate change.
One way we can test how larvae respond to changes in environmental conditions is by measuring their respiration rate. As with all animals, sea scallops breathe oxygen and release carbon dioxide. The oxygen they breathe is dissolved in seawater, and we can measure the drop in the oxygen concentration of that water over time with specialized equipment known as respiration chambers. Changes in respiration rate indicate physiological stress. We hypothesized that respiration rate may change when sea scallop larvae are exposed to non-ideal seawater conditions.
March 26, 2023 — A new study published in the journal PLOS Climate indicates that ocean acidification conditions projected between now and 2100 depress the growth of juvenile Atlantic sea scallops. Ocean acidification is caused by the ocean absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, resulting in chemical changes that increase acidity. Ocean warming may further hinder growth. Atlantic sea scallops support one of the most valuable fisheries in the United States, worth $670 million in 2021.
Postdoctoral researcher and lead author Emilien Pousse said, “This work describes the energetic balance of sea scallops under ocean acidification conditions for the first time, a species of economic and socio-cultural importance. Within our changing world, getting to know how our marine resources and fisheries could be affected by ocean warming and acidification in the near future is the key to anticipate the upcoming changes.”
The 8-week study was a collaboration between NOAA Fisheries and Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Faculty and students helped NOAA scientists conduct the study at the campus’ aquaculture lab. Scientists exposed the scallops to three different carbon dioxide levels and measured their growth and metabolism, including feeding, respiration, and excretion rates. Ocean acidification conditions significantly reduced the scallops’ ability to take up energy.
The NOAA Ocean Acidification Program, which funded this work, has a mission to better prepare society to respond to changing ocean conditions and resources by expanding our understanding of ocean acidification.
Dwight Gledhill, deputy director of NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program, explained further. “Sea scallops represent a critically important fishery for New England and the Mid-Atlantic,” he said. “Because the effects of ocean acidification can vary considerably from species to species, it is necessary that we conduct targeted studies on sea scallops to better evaluate the risk ocean acidification may pose to them in coming decades.”
Dvora Hart is the lead assessment scientist for the species at NOAA Fisheries as well as a co-author of this study. She has studied Atlantic sea scallops for 24 years.
“This is the first information on post-larval scallop growth under ocean acidification,” she noted. “I previously worked on computer modeling studies with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution oceanographers focused on climate change and ocean acidification effects on sea scallops. At the time, we did not have experimental data on sea scallop response. We estimated it based on what we knew about other scallop species and oysters. We now have real data on how sea scallops respond, filling a major gap in our knowledge.”