September 28, 2022 — In a ballroom overlooking Gloucester Harbor, the council regulating New England’s fisheries rejected a controversial proposal on Tuesday to develop a leasing program in the region’s lucrative scallop fishery after failing to agree on the presented motions.
The New England Fishery Management Council deliberated on three motions for more than two hours, with all three failing. The final motion during the meeting failed with 15 votes against, one in favor and one abstention — with leasing supporters viewing it as too narrow.
The latest leasing push comes 12 years after a proposal to allow it was defeated in a close 9-to-7 council vote, with one member abstaining.
Current regulations in the limited access scallop fishery allow one permit per vessel, which entitles a vessel to a certain number of days at sea, as well as a given number of access area fishing trips. A leasing program would have enabled a permit-holder (and his or her vessel) to lease and fish additional days or trips from another permit.
The third motion, put forward by Michael Pentony, regional administrator for the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, proposed initiating an amendment to develop a days at sea leasing and access area trip transfer program with some specific features.
During discussion of this motion, Jeffrey Pike of the Scallopers Campaign (the group behind the latest leasing effort) communicated a late shift in stance. He told the council the campaign wanted to “take the word ‘leasing’ out of the lexicon” and promote only internal transfers of allocations — noted in the motion as transfers within a company — stating he took the advice of the New Bedford Port Authority.
He said it was a hard decision as it would not help single-vessel owners who would not have another vessel to internally transfer allocations to.
Pike said internal transfers would mean no lease fees or broker fees. Leasing critics — many of them crew members — said they believed crew would bear the brunt of a leasing program, just as crew in the groundfish fishery, for example, pay a leasing charge.