Nantucket Lightship Access Area Archives

Nantucket Lightship Access Area Closing on May 30 for Scallop LAGC-IFQ Permit Holders

May 26, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA:

We are closing the Nantucket Lightship Access Area to the limited access general category (LAGC) individual fishing quota (IFQ) fleet on May 30, 2017. The area will remain closed to the LAGC IFQ fleet for the remainder of the 2017 fishing year through March 31, 2018.

Under the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan, once the LAGC IFQ fleet reaches its annual limit on the number of trips into the Nantucket Lightship Access Area (837 trips in 2017), we are required to close the area to the LAGC IFQ fleet for the remainder of the 2017 fishing year to prevent overharvest. We project that the LAGC IFQ fleet has reached its 2017 limit of 837 trips allocated for the Nantucket Lightship Access Area.

Vessels that have complied with the observer notification requirements, declared a trip into the Nantucket Lightship Scallop Access Area using the correct Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) code, and crossed the VMS demarcation line before 0001, May 30, 2017, may complete their trip and retain and land scallops caught from the Nantucket Lightship Access Area.

For more information, read the notice as filed in the Federal Register this afternoon and the permit holder bulletin on our website.

Questions? Contact Shannah Jaburek at 978-282-8456 or shannah.jaburek@noaa.gov

Regulation Change May Keep Cape Scallop Fishermen in Local Waters

May 9, 2016 — CHATHAM, Mass. — Local small boat scallop fishermen will be able to fish an area of local waters that has been closed since 2014.

The New England Fishery Management Council has changed regulations to allow for scallop fishing in the Nantucket Lightship Access Area which is about 65 miles southeast of Cape Cod.

Council scientists have assured there will not be any conservation concerns from allowing limited amounts of fishing.

“They decided it doesn’t warrant an entire opening for the whole fleet,” said Bob Keese, a scallop fisherman out of Chatham on the F/V Beggar’s Banquet. “But there are plenty of scallops out there right now to warrant an opening for a small-boat fleet.”

The reopening of the Lightship area will also allow for the depleted near shore waters a chance to replenish, Keese said.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

BOB KEESE: Small-boat fishermen seek to protect fishery

April 9, 2016 — Ron Smolowitz accuses small-boat scallopers of “gaming the system” to access the Nantucket Lightship fishing area (“Working the system makes the system unworkable,” My View, April 2).

As Smolowitz knows, in December New England Fishery Management Council scientists sent a memo saying there weren’t any conservation concerns with limited fishing there. The proposed access was so small it wouldn’t make sense for Smolowitz’s big-boat fishermen, catching 17,000 pounds per trip, to fish there. But small-boat fishermen can catch only 600 pounds a day, so the proposed access gives us 500 trips — which makes a huge difference for our families and community.

Read the full opinion piece at Cape Cod Times

NEMFC Newsletter, December 2015

December 17, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

Framework Adjustment 27

At its early December meeting, the New England Council finalized its recommendations for Framework 27 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP. The action contains catch specifications for the 2016 and 2017 (default) fishing years.

Fishermen will receive allocations that are projected to result in landings of about 47 million pounds of scallops in 2016. Forty million pounds are allocated to the scallop limited access fleet. Of the remainder, about 4.5 million pounds are allocated to the limited access general category (LAGC) fishery which numbers about 100 active vessels, and about 800,000 pounds are reserved for the observer set-aside program.

Several other specifications are the same as fishing year 2015 — 1.25 million pounds for the research set-aside program, 70,000 pounds for vessels with Northern Gulf of Maine LAGC permits, and 50,000 pounds for vessels with incidental LAGC permits.

Compared to 2015, the approximately 340 active limited access vessels will be allocated slightly more days-at-sea (DAS) in open areas this year and the same level of effort in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area (Delmarva, Hudson Canyon and Elephant Trunk Areas are combined in this action).

The proposed allocations for limited access vessels, as approved by the Council, will be 34.55 open area days-at-sea (as opposed to 31 DAS in 2015) for full-time vessels and 51,000 pounds in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area. Part-time vessels will receive 13.82 days-at-sea and 20,400 pounds in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area.

After much discussion, the New England Council also would allow a portion of the total LAGC allocation to be taken from the northern part of the Nantucket Lightship Access Area. The maximum removal from this relatively small area is proposed at 300,000 pounds, or about 7% of the LAGC total allocation. The proposed action also prohibits any scallop vessel from undertaking research set-aside compensation trips in the Lightship Area. The LAGC fleet’s total allocation from the Mid-Atlantic Access Area is 1.2 million pounds. Both areas would be closed to these vessels once the fleetwide LAGC quota is reached.

View a PDF of the Newsletter