The mayor of the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A., is calling on NOAA Fisheries to allow full-time scallop vessels to stack two permits on one vessel.
Mayor Jon Mitchell, in a letter sent to NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, called on the agency to allow for permit stacking in order to help protect the industry. Mitchell’s letter said he has reconsidered his position on the matter, as the scallop fishery continues to face limited days at sea.
“The continued decline in available days at sea and trips for limited-access permit holders has forced a broad reckoning in the industry that traditional assignment of one permit per boat is antiquated,” Mitchell wrote. “It has resulted in scallopers remaining in port for nearly 11 months a year on average – hardly an efficient use of a multi-million-dollar business asset.”
The limited amount of days at sea and access has also resulted in logistical difficulties in the ports, Mitchell said, and has reduced the revenue available to each boat, causing owners to forgo investment.
The Northeast U.S. scallop fishery – which contributed to New Bedford taking the top spot in terms of landing value – has faced declining quotas over the last several years from a historically high harvest in 2019 to under 20 million pounds.
Mitchell said the current proposal would not allow the leasing of permits but would allow the transfer of permits between two vessels of similar size and common ownership, which would give that one boat the ability to fish for twice as long.
“Earlier objections to permit stacking are not triggered by the new proposal,” Mitchell said. “The consolidation of two permits will not likely result in the loss of crew jobs. The reality is that on account of days-at-sea caps, it is now common for scallop fishermen to serve on multiple vessels.”
Mitchell also said modern technology and fishing techniques mean scallop fishing is much more efficient than it was when the current regulations were established in the 1990s.
“While it would be premature for me to explicitly endorse the proposal, as the precise language as yet to be settled on, it is clear that the status quo is untenable,” Mitchell wrote.
