Next year’s sea scallop harvest will have its revenues slashed by 25 per cent as a result of proposed cuts in the harvest, New Bedford fishers said. Regional fisheries regulators who voted in favour of the cuts argue that they are necessary to protect the stocks from overfishing.
While the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) endorses the cuts, fishers are citing recent surveys that demonstrate the stock’s good health and say they should harvest more than 16 per cent of commercially sized scallops. The 2010 season will begin on 1 March.
"I think everyone in the industry would go along with this if they thought it was in the least bit necessary to preserve the stock," said Roy Enoksen, president of New Bedford-based Eastern Fisheries Inc, which operates the industry’s largest fleet with 23 scallopers. "But we have a resource that is completely rebuilt and in very good shape."
The cuts must receive final approval from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), South Coast Today reports.