Saving Seafood

NEFMC SSC – Listen Live – Monday, November 23, 2020 – Scallops

November 16, 2020 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will meet via webinar on Monday, November 23, 2020 to discuss issues related to Atlantic sea scallops.  The public is invited to listen live.  But first …

HERE’S AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:  The Council is seeking qualified candidates to serve on its SSC for a three-year term from January 2021 through December 2023.  The deadline for submitting nominations and related materials is 8:00 a.m. on December 20, 2020.  Additional information is available in the request for nominations.

Now, here are the details for the SSC’s November 23rd webinar meeting.

START TIME:  9:00 a.m.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Online access to the meeting is available at Listen Live.  There is no charge to access the meeting through this webinar.

CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (213) 929-4212.  The access code is 615-476-202.  Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.

AGENDA:  The SSC will meet to:

  • Review the results of the Fall 2020 Management Track Stock Assessment for Atlantic Sea Scallops and information provided by the Council’s Scallop Plan Development Team;
  • Recommend the overfishing limit (OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC) for the 2021 scallop fishing year and the default OFL and ABC specifications for fishing year 2022; and
  • Discuss other business as necessary.

COMMENTS:  The deadline for submitting written comments for consideration at this meeting is 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 19, 2020.  Address comments to Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn or Executive Director Tom Nies and email them to comments@nefmc.org.  Additional information is available in the meeting notice.

MATERIALS:  All documents for this meeting will be posted on the SSC November 23, 2020 webpage.

QUESTIONS:  Contact Joan O’Leary at (978) 465-0492 ext. 101, joleary@nefmc.org or Janice Plante at (607) 592-4817,  jplante@nefmc.org.

MASSACHUSETTS: Restaurant closures contribute to dwindling scallop fleet on Nantucket

November 9, 2020 — Bobby DeCosta only saw about half a dozen scalloping boats when he loaded his boat into the harbor on Nov. 3.It was the second day of the commercial scalloping season. There were about 40 boats scalloping last November.

It’s a dwindling fleet, DeCosta said. It’s also getting hit by COVID-19. With both island and off-island restaurants – which typically sell Nantucket bay scallops – shutting down for the season or for good, the income you can make selling scallops is on the decline.

“I hear guys say, ‘I’m not scalloping this year, I’m going to take a land job,’” said De-Costa, a commercial scalloper and former Select Board member. “If you didn’t grow up in the fishery, it’s a hard thing to get into.”

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Maine extends deadline for scallop license lottery

November 4, 2020 — Fisheries regulators in Maine are extending the period to apply for a scallop fishing license until the end of the week.

The state holds lotteries for licenses to harvest scallops by diving or by drag boats. The deadline to apply for a place in the lottery is Friday at 4:30 p.m.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources said it extended the deadline by a week because of concern that the lotteries might not have been as widely publicized as intended.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Bangor Daily News

How many sea scallops are there and why does it matter?

November 3, 2020 — The following was released by UMass Dartmouth School of Marine Science & Technology:

A study conducted by Dr. Kevin Stokesbury is featured as the cover story in the November 2020 issue of the Ecological Society of America’s Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment journal (Volume 18, Issue 9). The study, titled “How many sea scallops are there and why does it matter?” focuses on the effects of climate change, oceanic conditions along the Atlantic Coast of North America that are changing, as well as surface water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine, which have increased faster than 99% of the global oceans. The research examines the role of the sea scallop as a baseline sentinel species that can be used to measure the impacts of environmental change and anthropogenic developments.

“In Canada and the US, the Atlantic sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) supports lucrative fisheries, which are founded on an extensive scientific framework focusing on stock assessment,” explains Dr. Stokesbury, professor of Fisheries Oceanography at UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science & Technology. “The sea scallop is an ideal sentinel species, as it is highly sensitive to changes in marine conditions. We used a drop camera system to estimate the number and size of scallops, as well as the distribution of their reproductive potential, over 70,000 km2 of the continental shelf in 2016–2018, an area that nearly covers the entire range of this species. In total, we estimated that there were 34 billion individual scallops (95% confidence limits: 22–46 billion) within the species’ range.”

Highlights:

  • Estimates of the number of individuals of an abundant marine species are both unusual and scarce
  • A drop camera system was used to approximate the number and size of Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) over an area that encompassed virtually the species’ entire range
  • Photographic quadrats allow for estimation of the sea scallop’s spatial distribution at scales ranging from centimeters to thousands of kilometers, as well as its habitat productivity
  • The sea scallop is an ideal sentinel species to track ocean health and climate change impacts

Dr. N. David Bethoney, executive director of the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation, collaborated with Dr. Stokesbury on this survey, which was made possible by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awards through the Scallop Research set-aside program, and the sea scallop fishery and supporting industries of Canada and the United States.

Read the full release here

Maine extends deadline for scallop license lottery

November 3, 2020 — Fisheries regulators in Maine are extending the period to apply for a scallop fishing license until the end of the week.

The state holds lotteries for licenses to harvest scallops by diving or by drag boats. The deadline to apply for a place in the lottery is Friday at 4:30 p.m.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources said it extended the deadline by a week because of concern that the lotteries might not have been as widely publicized as intended.

Read the full story from the Associated Press from the Caledonian Record

Bristol Seafood, University of New England Partner to Create New Scallop Testing Technology

October 27, 2020 — A partnership between Bristol Seafood and the University of New England (UNE) School of Marine & Environmental Programs and Seafood Analytics has resulted in the creation of a new piece of technology that can definitively identify a scallop as fresh (never frozen) or previously frozen.

“We sponsor graduate-level research at the University of New England focused on the marine space, and this year we are proud of what student Joseph Ehrhard was able to accomplish,” said Bristol CEO and President Peter Handy. “Joey worked with Dr. Keith Cox, co-founder of Seafood Analytics, to create, implement and validate a testing methodology that uses electrical impedance to assess the quality, freshness and state of sea scallops.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

NEFMC Highlights Importance of Scallop RSA Surveys During COVID-19 Pandemic

October 15, 2020 — The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) noted the value of the industry-funded Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program, calling it the “sole source” of scallop survey data during the coronavirus pandemic.

The typical survey run by NOAA Fisheries was canceled thanks to COVID-19 and it would leave key information about the status of the fishery for the year. However, the RSA program has worked as a complementary data set for about two decades.

Read the full story at Seafood News

RICK ROBINS & JEFF PIKE: Time for change in the Atlantic scallop fishery

September 23, 2020 — The Atlantic sea scallop fishery is a success story, at least in terms of stock rebuilding and biological sustainability. From an efficiency perspective, however, the fishery is off course.

The outdated management approach for the limited access scallop fleet of one boat-one permit-one allocation has tied the hands of vessel owners, increased operational costs, effectively barring captains and crews from the pathways to ownership that their predecessors enjoyed, and added unnecessary safety risks on the water. There are too many boats spending too few days on the water, leaving the scallop fleet hamstrung as it navigates the choppy waters of a global pandemic and lower predicted harvests.

A typical full-time limited-access scallop vessel harvests its annual scallop allocation in around 70 days, leaving vessels tied to the dock more than 80 percent of the year. The only growth option is to buy another permit, which means buying another vessel. This is a cost-prohibitive option for independent operators, since it forces them to take on steep capital costs and pay for ongoing maintenance expenses for a redundant vessel.

Although one vessel could easily harvest the allocation of two limited-access permits, the fleet has no flexibility to do so. With harvests predicted to decline, meaning even fewer days on the water, the lack of flexibility will only cost more and leave more boats tied to the dock for more days. What’s more, the current system means that if a captain or crew get sick (a serious possibility in the age of covid-19), a vessel breaks down, or some other calamity hits, there is no back-up plan to fish the allocation.

Read the full opinion piece at National Fisherman

Maine shellfish farmers gaining confidence with scallops

September 21, 2020 — In Maine, Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) are one of the most valuable fisheries in U.S. waters, the target of deep-sea draggers and divers on dayboats.

But compared to a seasonal fishery, an aquaculture crop has the key advantage of a year-round supply and steady pricing. In an attempt to build a fledgling scallop farming industry, Maine shellfish farmers started trialling a Japanese technique called ear hanging in 2017. Taking advantage of a sister state agreement with Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, growers in Maine are working to establish semi-automated commercial aquaculture operations (the Advocate covered these efforts in 2016).

Since then, progress has accelerated. In 2018, community development and business advising firm Coastal Enterprises Inc. (CEI), which has been part of the ear hanging work since 2016, received a grant from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research for a three-year program to further develop ear hanging in Maine.

CEI purchased three machines from Mutsu Kaden Tokki Co., Ltd., in Mutsu City, Aomori. Five farms have utilized the equipment implementing small-scale commercial trials with several thousand scallops on each farm, while market research by CEI has been gauging the potential demand for ear-hung farmed scallops.

Read the full story at the Global Aquaculture Alliance

Scallops: Tune In – Wednesday, September 2 – Last Webinar Hearing for Amendment 21

September 1, 2020 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold its last webinar hearing on Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan on Wednesday, September 2, 2020 beginning at 6:00 p.m.

Let us know what you think!  Time is running out.  The public comment deadline is Friday, September 4.  The Council will be taking final action on Amendment 21 during its late-September webinar meeting.

This amendment includes proposed measures for: (1) the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) Management Area; and (2) the Limited Access General Category (LAGC) Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) component of the fishery.

PREVIEW THE PRESENTATION:  It’s on-demand!  Just fill in your name and email address HERE and it’ll start to roll.

SKIM THE DOCUMENTS:  Take a look at the public hearing document, the press release, and all other related information in the Amendment 21 library.

JOIN THE WEBINAR:  Register HERE to participate on Wednesday, September 2.

STREAM IN-PERSON WITH MAINE DMR:  Want company?  The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) will be streaming the hearing in Augusta and helping fishermen navigate the webinar to provide comments.

  • In a bulletin to industry members, DMR said, “For those who would like technical assistance in connecting to the webinar or do not have computer access and/or reliable internet, ME DMR will be providing a space for fishermen to participate in the September 2nd public hearing webinar.”
  • DMR added, “Staff will have the webinar public hearing streaming at our Augusta office complex (32 Blossom Lane) in the Deering Building, Room 101 (building is to the left of the DMR office); you just have to show up to comment.”
  • Anyone interested in this option must RSVP.  Call or email Megan Ware at (207) 446-0932;megan.ware@maine.gov.  Read the bulletin for additional details.  Masks and social distancing will be required

SCALLOP ASSESSMENT:  The Fall 2020 Scallop Management Track Stock Assessment will undergo peer review during a September 14-18, 2020 meeting.

UPCOMING MEETINGS:  Visit the New England Council’s scallop webpage for more information about the upcoming September 23, 2020 Scallop Advisory Panel webinar and September 25, 2020 Scallop Committee webinar.