Landings in the Atlantic sea scallop fishery – predominantly centered around ports in New Bedford, Massachusetts; Point Judith, Rhode Island; Cape May, New Jersey; and Norfolk, Virginia – are pacing ahead of the totals caught at the same time last year.
NOAA Atlantic sea scallop annual catch limit (ACL) monitoring indicates that as of the end of June, landings across the Limited Access sub-ACL, Limited Access General Category sub-ACL, and Limited Access with Limited Access General Category sub-ACL totaled 16,559,120 pounds. That’s compared to landings totals in 2020, which over the same period totaled 16,031,508 pounds.
Landings totals for the early months of the season indicate a shift in where scallopers are landing their catch. As of the end of June 2021, over 7.8 million pounds of scallops were landed in the “Open” category compared to just under 2.5 million pounds landed in 2020. In 2020, the majority of early-season scallop were landed in the Mid-Atlantic area, with over 6 million pounds landed. However, in 2021, the area has yielded just over 3.5 million pounds.
Landings for 2021 are projected by the New England Fishery Management Council to reach around 40 million pounds, a significant drop from projections in 2020, which were projected to reach 52 million pounds.
However, scallop landings in 2020 only reached 42 million pounds, a total partially related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. domestic scallop prices were close to all-time highs at the start of the season, with many predicting that high prices would be the norm in 2021. Before the season started, Bristol Seafood CEO predicted the tighter supply would “put upward pressure on the scallop pricing in the upcoming season.”
Kane Kendall of Raw Seafoods – speaking during a National Fisheries Institute’s Global Seafood Market Conference webinar – said in April those pre-season predictions were proving true.
“I think we’re already seeing it, very high prices going into this year,” Kendall said. “We’re already seeing record high prices on U10s, U12s.”
The high pricing continued, with fishermen reporting higher prices were helping to offset higher production costs caused by fuel costs.
Meanwhile, the New England Fishery Management Council has initiated Framework Adjustment 34, governing the scallop season for 2022-2023. The framework will be developed throughout the summer and fall, and according to the council will include specifications for the 2022 fishing year and default measures for 2023, potential modifications to the limited access general category individual fishing trip quota, and measures from Amendment 21 that are approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Amendment 21 is an amendment intended to address Northern Gulf of Maine management issues, the limited access general category individual fishing quota trip limit, and the potential one-way transfer of individual fishing quota from limited access vessels that hold it to limited access general category individual fishing quota-only vessels.
Photo courtesy of the School for Marine Science and Technology/New England Fishery Management Council
