Saving Seafood

2026 Spring Habitat Camera Survey Completed in Northeast

October 15, 2026 — Our Habitat Camera (HabCam) Survey uses a towed camera sled system to collect images of the seafloor. We analyze the images to estimate the abundance and size composition of Atlantic sea scallops. The sea scallop abundance, size composition, and distribution data are used annually as part of the sea scallop stock assessment and management processes. The survey is one of the primary fishery-independent surveys used in the sea scallop stock assessment model.

We also annotate the images for other seafloor features and animals such as crabs and finfish. We conduct the survey in the Mid-Atlantic Bight and Georges Bank. Because the camera sled is towed behind the vessel, the survey can sample more seafloor than traditional sea scallop survey methods.

Dates and Legs

The 2026 HabCam Survey began on May 11, 2026 and completed operations on May 29, 2026. We conducted the Spring survey aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow and it occurred in two legs:

  • Leg 1: May 11–19 in Mid-Atlantic Bight
  • Leg 2: May 20–29 in Georges Bank

Survey Location

This survey monitored the Mid-Atlantic and Georges Bank Atlantic Sea Scallop management areas:

In the Mid-Atlantic, the survey monitored:

  • Delmarva
  • Elephant Trunk
  • Hudson Canyon South
  • A mid-line through New York Bight and Long Island
  • Mid-Atlantic Bight Nearshore areas

In Georges Bank, the survey monitored:

  • Nantucket Lightship-West
  • CL1 (Groundfish Closed Area 1)
  • Northern Flank
  • CL2-North (Groundfish Closed Area 2)
  • Great South Channel

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Scallop program puts $25 million toward research

October 14, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries has awarded 14 new projects through its 2026 Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Program, supporting research ranging from expanded Georges Bank surveys to artificial intelligence, scallop recruitment, and mortality.

Rather than providing federal funding directly, the Research Set-Aside Program allocates a portion of the scallop harvest to researchers, who work with commercial fishermen to harvest the scallops and generate funding for their projects.

This year, researchers were awarded more than 1.5 million pounds of Atlantic sea scallops. At an estimated value of $16 per pound, NOAA Fisheries expects the allocation to generate more than $25 million, with approximately $6 million supporting research and the remaining $19 million going to participating harvesters.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

NOAA Fisheries Awards 14 Projects in 2026 Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Program

October 9, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries has made 14 new grant awards through the Scallop Research Set-Aside Program. These projects support research that informs management decisions for one of the most valuable wild-caught fisheries in the nation.

Instead of awarding federal funds, this unique program sets aside a portion of scallops that would otherwise be available for commercial harvest. Those pounds are awarded to researchers who then work with the fishing industry to both conduct their research and harvest the scallops to fund the work.

This year’s projects were awarded more than 1.5 million pounds of Atlantic sea scallops. At an estimated $16 per pound, the awards are expected to generate more than $25 million. Of that amount, $6 million will directly support research. The remaining $19 million will go to harvesters in support of small business owners and local fishing families.

The U.S. sea scallop fishery is a major contributor to the national seafood economy. In 2025, commercial scallop landings totaled 23.1 million pounds, valued at $417 million—making it the largest wild scallop fishery in the world.

The awarded projects are investigating research priorities identified by the New England Fishery Management Council. This year’s projects include enhancements to existing scallop surveys, such as:

  • Expanded coverage on Georges Bank
  • AI-enhanced processing of survey imagery
  • Continued support of industry-driven data collection and co-management

Also new this year are two projects exploring opportunities for enhancement of scallop resources.

The research set-aside program is a model of innovation. It funds essential research without using federal dollars and builds strong partnerships between scientists and the fishing industry. NOAA Fisheries currently supports research set-aside programs for Atlantic sea scallops and monkfish.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

How Harvard scientists built genomics outpost on Gloucester harbor

September 28, 2026 — The year was 2012, and Massachusetts state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante had an idea that might help fishermen in her hometown of Gloucester.

The Atlantic cod population had been in decline for decades, partly due to overfishing. Regulation to try to bring about a rebound was in everyone’s best interest, but there were problems — and some distrust of regulators by fishermen.

The cod in two offshore regions, the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, were managed as separate populations, but there were gaps in what was known about the groups’ geographic boundaries and genetic relationships. Ferrante wondered whether genomic sequencing could help track the stock more accurately and approached David Walt, then a professor at Tufts, to ask.

“I said, ‘Yeah, I think that’s a pretty viable idea,’” said Walt, now the Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Bioinspired Engineering at Harvard Medical School. So Ferrante secured state funding, and Walt ran tests and found genetically distinct spawning groups within both regions, information that has helped fisheries managers get a better read on the health of the groups.

Read the full article at The Harvard Gazette

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

After gauge fight, lobster managers rethink strategy

August 14, 2026 — After the collapse of controversial lobster gauge changes, managers are taking a different approach to the future of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank fishery. This time, they are starting with a broader question: What should lobster management be trying to accomplish?

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is beginning a process that is expected to bring fishermen and other industry members into the conversation before any new major management measures are proposed.

At the American Lobster Management Board’s Aug. 4 meeting, ASMFC staff outlined how that process could work. Eventually, it could lead to what is known as a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE), which essentially allows managers to test different management approaches on paper before putting them into practice.

But ASMFC isn’t there yet.

First, managers want to hear from the industry about what the future of the fishery should look like and what needs to be protected, from the lobster resource itself to fishermen’s businesses and coastal communities.

The discussion comes as managers continue to watch changes in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank lobster stock. The 2025 stock assessment found the stock was not depleted, but lobster abundance had fallen 34 percent from the high identified in the previous assessment.

That decline raised concerns and led the Lobster Board to begin looking at what might need to happen next.

Rather than immediately developing another set of regulations, however, ASMFC’s Technical Committee recommended first figuring out what fishermen and managers actually want future management to accomplish.

ASMFC’s Caitlin Starks called that a “critical first step” during the Aug. 4 meeting.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEFMC given Trump priorities on scallop fishery, but rollout process remains murky

August 5, 2026 — U.S. President Donald Trump recently sent a deregulatory wish list to the country’s regional fishery management councils, and the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) now has to grapple with how to address his proposed changes to the scallop fishery.

In early July, White House Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro held a press conference touting the move by Trump and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as a means of “unlocking the fertile fisheries of America.” Included in that list of requests, the Trump administration is asking the NEFMC to open the Northern Edge of Georges Bank to rotational scallop fishing for the first time in 30 years and to implement permit stacking on commercial scallop fishing boats.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Millions of seafloor images fuel scallop stock assessments

July 13, 2026 — The cameras are rolling again on Georges Bank, where NOAA Fisheries scientists are collecting millions of images of the seafloor to help shape future management of the Atlantic sea scallop fishery.

The agency’s annual Habitat Camera, or HabCam, survey completed its second leg in late May after spending nine days photographing the seafloor across Nantucket Lightship, the Great South Channel and Georges Bank, roughly 60 to 100 miles offshore. Unlike traditional research surveys that collect animals, HabCam relies on a towed camera system that documents scallops and other bottom-dwelling species without disturbing them.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Trump administration touts National Scallops Day designation, Georges Bank territory opening

July 13, 2026 – – The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is touting its designation of National Scallops Day, the opening of the Northern Edge of Georges Bank to scallop fishing, and permit stacking as a means of boosting the fishery.

The administration recently sent a deregulatory wish list to regional fishery management councils, which included a range of different recommendations like modernizing fleet capacity in the area managed by the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council and shifting the management of red snapper away from the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Thirty years after closure, Northern Edge scallop grounds could reopen

July 10, 2026 — President Donald Trump’s proposal to reopen the Northern Edge of Georges Bank to scallop fishing is generating optimism throughout New England’s scallop industry, though fishermen and scientists say reopening one of the East Coast’s most productive fishing grounds will likely take time and require approval through the federal management process. The Northern Edge has been closed to scalloping since 1994 to protect Atlantic cod habitat.

The Trump administration announced it plans to reopen the area on a rotational basis and allow “stacking” of scallop permits, which would enable vessels to harvest multiple permits on a single trip. However, Maine Public reported that the New England Fishery Management Council would first need to approve the change before the fishery could reopen.

“From an industry perspective, access to the Northern Edge would be a blessing,” Eric Hansen, owner of two New Bedford scallop vessels and a council member, told Maine Public. “The loss of resource and revenue for the scallop industry for the last 30 years has been huge.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman