The New England Fishery Management Council approved Framework Adjustment 33, setting the guidelines for the scallop fishery for 2021.
The new framework includes provisions for the number of trips and pounds vessels can take from various scallop areas along the coast of New England. Under the new framework, the council is estimating that the total landings for 2021 will be approximately 40 million pounds, with a value of roughly USD 387 million (EUR 318 million).
That total is smaller than the 52 million pounds that the council projected for 2020, and significantly lower than the 62 million pounds the council projected would be caught in 2019.
One key difference in 2021, compared to previous years, is that the new framework will not go into effect on 1 April, while the fishing year will start on 1 April.
“As such, fishermen will be working under default 2021 measures that were established in Framework 32 as a back-up,” the NEFMC wrote in a release.
The delay in implementation is related to “complications due to COVID-19,” which forced the cancellation of the federal scallop survey, similar to many other surveys cancelled due to COVID-19. While other surveys managed to take place, those surveys took place later, NEFMC said.
“Several other surveys were successfully conducted by industry and research partners through the Scallop RSA Program, but some of these surveys took place later in the summer than usual as captains, crews, and researchers addressed coronavirus safety guidelines and instituted necessary precautions,” the council said. “Once the surveys were completed, the resulting data still needed to be analyzed, which delayed action on Framework Adjustment 33.”
As a result of the delay, fishermen will be operating under the older Framework 32 on 1 April, which has some key differences to the new framework. Mainly, the total allowable catch for the Northern Gulf of Maine region is 265,000 pounds under Framework 32, compared to 175,000 pounds under Framework 33.
If fishermen manage to catch more than 175,000 pounds before Framework 33 goes into effect, the catch would result in a “future pound-for-pound payback.”
The scallop landings in 2021 are predicted to be bolstered by the strong 2012 and 2013 year classes, which were partially responsible for the high landings in 2019 and 2020. However, as in previous years, that year class has typically run on the smaller side, which may mean that a bulk of the catch in 2021 runs smaller.
Bristol Seafood CEO Peter Handy, in an update following the scallop Framework 33 approval, said the smaller sizing, coupled with lower predicted landings, will likely have an effect on the prices.
“At first blush, the release suggests that scallops will continue to shift towards smaller sizes, with larger sizes such as U10s and 10-20s taking the brunt of the supply reduction,” Handy wrote. “All else equal on the demand side, which is a difficult thing to predict at any time, let alone a moment like the one we find ourselves in, we believe this will put upward pressure on scallop pricing in the upcoming season.”
The new Framework 33 also includes new default measures “in case implementation of new specifications is delayed,” the council said. Those default regulations include 18 open area days-at-sea for full-time vessels, and 7.2 open area days for part-time vessels, beginning 1 April, 2022, and one 18,000-pound trip to the Mid-Atlantic Access Area for full-time vessels and one 7,200-pound trip to the Mid-Atlantic Access Area for part-time vessels, beginning 1 May, 2022.
Photo courtesy of NEFMC/UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology
