Northern GOM Scallops 2019-2020

Map above

The Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area is regulated under a total allowable catch (TAC) that cannot be exceeded. For Framework Adjustment 30, the Council approved the following TACs for the area:

• Fishing Year 2019: 205,000 pounds; and

• Fishing Year 2020: 170,000 pounds as a default measure.

These TACs were based on projections of exploitable biomass – meaning scallops that are of harvestable size – within portions of the Northern Gulf of Maine where fishing activity is expected to occur based on recent surveys of the area.

Map below

Fishing activity in the Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area is expected to occur on the northern portion of Stellwagen Bank, in Ipswich Bay, and on Jeffreys Ledge. The TAC is divided as follows:

Default Specifications

The UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology 2018 drop camera survey in the Gulf of Maine revealed harvestable densities of scallops on Stellwagen Bank and in Ipswich Bay, as well as some recruitment on Jeffreys Ledge. – SMAST graphic

• The first 70,000 pounds will be allocated to the limited access general category component of the fishery; and then

• The remaining poundage will be split 50/50 between the LAGC and limited access components of the fishery. For the 2019 fishing year, the overall shares turn out to be:

• 137,500 pounds for LAGC boats; and

• 67,500 pounds for limited access vessels with IFQ allocations.

NOTE: The limited access share of the Northern Gulf of Maine TAC can be utilized only for research set-aside (RSA) compensation fishing. This is a short-term solution to utilize the small TAC available to the limited access fishery until the Council develops a more formal allocation and harvest strategy in a future management action.

Research Set-Aside (RSA) Fishing The Council further voted to prohibit RSA compensation fishing in Closed Area I but to allow it in the other two access areas – Nantucket Lightship- West and the Mid-Atlantic Access Area – as well as in the Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area as described above. RSA fishing will be allowed on open bottom as part of Framework 30.