Scallop Dredge
Maine’s winter scallop fishing season opened on Saturday with scallopers facing even more uncertainty than usual. New rules controlling the Gulf of Maine scallop fishery could have a big impact on Maine’s scallop fishing fleet. The New England Fishery Management Council recently approved adjustments to its scallop fishery management plan aimed at conserving the offshore scallop resource. The new “framework adjustment” could force some Downeast fishermen to abandon a fishery that has been a traditional source of winter support for boats in Maine’s inshore lobster fleet, although in recent years landings have been small. During the 2006 season, according to the Department of Marine Resources, Maine scallopers landed just 94,136 pounds of scallops. The landed value was just $836,853 with an average boat price of $8.89 per pound. As meager as those figures are, they represent a big improvement over the previous two years. In 2004, Maine scallopers landed just 18,786 pounds, worth some $76,480. In 2005, landings totaled 21,955 pounds with a value of $186,090. The fishery was quite different just a decade ago. Landings topped 1 million pounds every year between 1987 and 1996. In 1993, Maine scallopers landed some 1.6 million pounds of scallops worth more than $9.9 million. Most of Maine’s scallop fleet fishes in state-managed waters within three miles of shore, and most of the boats in the fishery are small — 40 feet or less in length. The state waters scallop season begins Dec. 1 and lasts through April 15. A few boats, though, fish year round in both state and federally managed waters. They are the ones most likely to be affected by the new rules. About a decade ago, the NEFMC established limited entry management for the scallop fishery.