The New England Fishery Management Council has had its first comprehensive look at 2020 scallop survey results for the region, with indications that the next season will likely see landings around 40 million pounds.
That projection would represent a significant decrease from landings in 2018 and 2019. In 2018, more than 58 million pounds were landed, and more than 60 million pounds were landed in 2019. The current preliminary total for 2020 is 51.6 million pounds – less than originally predicted.
The 2021 estimates come from industry-funded Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside (SRA) Program surveys, which were the sole source of 2020 scallop survey data. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual federal scallop survey was canceled, just one of many surveys that were canceled in 2020.
Thanks to the SRA surveys, data was still able to be collected in 2020. According to the survey, in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area, the strong 2013 year class of scallops continues to represent a significant portion of the biomass, a year class that “has supported fishing in the Mid-Atlantic for several years.”
“Fishing is expected to continue in this area in 2021, although at a lower rate, since the 2013 year class is nearing its peak,” a NEFMC press release states.
Patches of pre-recruit scallops were spotted on the bottom, but those will not be available for a few years until they grow to harvestable size.
“Without a strong signal of incoming recruitment in the Mid-Atlantic, fishing activity may shift to Georges Bank for a while, where strong year classes have been observed,” the release said.
The Nantucket Lightship-South Area contains an estimated 27.7 million pounds of smaller-size scallops from the 2012 year class. Despite being slow growers, the resource will support fishing in 2021. In Nantucket Lightship-Northwest, a lack of exploitable biomass will likely prevent fishing.
This year, Eastern Georges Bank has the highest biomass present.
"Several year classes of scallops are present, and RSA survey crews saw some evidence of new recruitment in various portions of the region,” the NEFMC release states.
The Southern Flank area is expected to remain open in 2021, while Closed Area II East is recommended to be closed to due to “a large set of pre-recruit scallops” which will need time to grow to harvestable size.
The Closed Area II Southwest and Extension, according to the NEFMC release, have the largest level of exploitable biomass for 2021, most of which are part of a large, four-year-old year class. The scallops in the area are densely concentrated, and are expected to recruit to the fishery and overlap with older, larger scallops in the area.
“The Scallop PDT [Plan Development Team] is discussing options for allowing fishing activity in this area during the 2021 fishing year. The Southwest is the only Closed Area II sub-area that did not show signs of new recruitment during the 2020 surveys,” the NEFMC release states.
Overall, the stock assessment finds that scallops are not overfished, and overfishing is not occurring.
Photo courtesy of the New England Fishery Management Council/Coonamessett Farm Foundation
