April 11, 2025 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shut down the Gulf of Maine’s scallop fishery Friday.
“As of April 11, 2025, no scallop vessel fishing under federal scallop regulations may fish for, possess, or land scallops in or from the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area,” NOAA’s announcement reads. “The scallop regulations require that we close this area once we project that 100% of the 2025 Northern Gulf of Maine Set-Aside will be taken.”
Members of Maine’s fishing industry have been anticipating the closure, saying regulators delayed finalizing this year’s catch limits amid their transition to the Trump Administration.
“It hasn’t been as easy to get information this year from NOAA fisheries,” said Togue Brawn, a Member of the New England Fishery Management Council and the founder of Downeast Dayboat and Dayboat Blue. “As we know, things are changing with the government, people are getting fired, people are afraid to talk. It’s a little dystopian, and frankly unsettling, and it does a disservice to the fishermen and the employees that are there trying to manage the fishery.”
The fishery shuts down every year once projections show the allowed set-aside for the year will be met, but this closure marks the first time NOAA has closed the fishery in the middle of the season — which some believe poses uncertainty for fishermen who traveled to the southern reaches of the Gulf of Maine fishing area off of Massachusetts.