Scallop fishing opportunities in the U.S. Northeast continue to be low, leaving companies in the region facing another lean year.
The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) recently approved Framework Adjustment 40, setting 36 days-at-sea for full-time Limited Access permit holders and 14.4 days-at-sea for part-time Limited Access permit holders. With that level of fishing opportunity, the council is projecting landings of 17.1 million pounds – a far cry from the historically high harvest of 60 million pounds projected in 2019.
Since that historical high, the U.S. scallop harvest has steadily dropped every year, hitting 47.5 million pounds in 2020, 43 million pounds in 2021, 31.5 million pounds in 2022, 24 million pounds in 2023, and 19.75 million pounds in 2024. Total income from the fishery has dropped along with the drop in catch. According to NOAA data, the fishery’s value hit a peak in 2021 when record-high scallop prices pushed its earnings to nearly USD 672 million (EUR 573 million). That total was halved in 2024, when it took in USD 333 million (EUR 284 million), and 2026 is projected to be lower still.
NEFMC's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) released a report on the fishery, finding that Atlantic sea scallops are currently in a declining trend, and though the drivers of those declines remain uncertain, the effect is a continued string of lowered quotas. It also indicated lower recruitment of young scallops – meaning the trend might continue.
The continued drops in quota haven’t gone unnoticed by major scallop processors and distributors. Northern Wind CEO Ken Melanson told SeafoodSource in January that the company’s acquisition of Atlantic Capes Fisheries was in large part due to lower scallop quotas.
“It was scallops; it was the reason why we targeted Atlantic Capes,” Melanson said at the time. “There’s only a handful of people who basically deal with 80 percent of the total quota here domestically in the scallop business … with the diminishing quotas and everything else it just made all the sense in the world – rather than go out there and fight for customers.”
Melanson more recently told SeafoodSource the latest announcement by the NEFMC has proven the company’s acquisition strategy correct as the supply continues to tighten.
“I’m not sure that everybody is going to be able to make it through the ‘lean years’ if you will, but we certainly will,” he said.
Melanson said the latest scallop fishing opportunities offered no surprises to the industry given the trends it has seen over the last several years. He said Northern Wind relies heavily on imports, and 50 percent of what they sell is an imported scallop “as it is today” due to the limited supply of domestic scallops.
“There are no surprises because the writing is on the wall,” Melanson said. “We’re going to end up with 20 million pounds for 2025 and 2026, which is basically what we had for 2024.”
He also added the distribution of sizes in the fishery is changing, which adds another complication for the industry.
“I think the big major change is the size of the scallops that are going to be coming in next year. I think they’re going to be on the much smaller side,” Melanson said.
The current population spread of scallops identified by the SSC indicate much of the same, with a large portion of the biomass being on the younger side, with relatively few old scallops. That means the largest scallop sizes, like u10s and u12s, will be hard to come by and likely more expensive.
“It’s going to be a boutique restaurant that can bring in the u10s and u12s,” Melanson said. “All my indications tell me that they’re going to be a majority 20-30s and 30-40s.”
Melanson said the fishery has gone through up years and down years in the past, and he’s hopeful that similar to years past, the biomass will increase.
“We can hope and pray that 2027 [or] 2028 is the turnaround,” he said.
