An emergency action by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Friday closing a large area off the coast of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia to scallop fishing was welcomed by the fishing industry.
"This is a benefit to me," said local scallop boat owner Dan Eilertsen, who has one trip to the Delmarva remaining on his boat Justice. "It's a long steam down there and it was getting a little scratchy," he said. Eilertsen held off on making that last trip, hoping that such a move would be approved.
"This is the first news I've heard of it," he said when informed by The Standard-Times of the decision Friday. "But it's good news for me."
Scallop boats such as Justice with unused trips will now be compensated with trips to Closed Area 1, a New England scallop ground much closer to New Bedford that opens to fishermen on June 15. The New England Fishery Management Council had asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to take this action and to move quickly to prevent economic losses to the boats that still had Delmarva trips.
Read the complete story from The Standard-Times