2023 Fishing Year Individual Fishing Quota Allocations for the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery

For vessels participating in the Northern Gulf of Maine, please see the Northern Gulf of Maine Bulletin

Fishing Year 2023 IFQ Allocations

The table below includes the LAGC fleet fishing year 2023 IFQ allocations effective April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024. We will upload your vessel’s updated 2023 IFQ and your IFQ letter to Fish Online based on the following allocations. Vessels can exchange IFQ via Fish Online or the IFQ Transfer Form.

**REMINDER** For IFQ vessels, all scallop harvest counts against your IFQ, regardless of where it is caught, including state waters.

IFQ Overage Payback (accountability measure)

You are prohibited from exceeding your IFQ allocation at any time during the fishing year. If you have exceeded your IFQ, you must balance an overage through temporary IFQ leases and/or permanent allocation transfers prior to any additional fishing activity. However, balancing an IFQ overage does not negate any potential violation related to exceeding your IFQ. If you exceed your yearly IFQ allocation, we will deduct any overages that remain at the end of the fishing year from the following year’s IFQ allocation on a pound-for-pound basis.

Changes to In-shell (Shell Stock) Possession Limits

• Framework 36 changes the in-shell (shell stock) possession limit of scallops from a bushel conversion (1 bushel of in-shell scallops = 8 lb of scallop meats) to a weight conversion (8.33 lb of in-shell scallops = 1 lb of scallop meats).
• For Access Area trips, vessels may not possess or land, per trip, more than 800 lb of shucked scallops, or possess more than 6,664 lb of in-shell scallops shoreward of the VMS Demarcation Line.
• For open area trips, vessels may not possess or land, per trip, more than 600 lb of shucked scallops, or possess more than 4,998 lb of in-shell scallops shoreward of the VMS Demarcation Line.

2023 Access Area Closures

The following areas are closed for scallop fishing year 2023 (see map above and coordinates below):

• Area I (formerly Closed Area I)
• Elephant Trunk
• Nantucket Lightship-West
• New York Bight (No Transit)
• Nantucket Lightship-South Deep (Opens for fishing as Open Area on May 31, 2023)
• Nantucket Lightship-Triangle (Opens for fishing as Open Area on May 31, 2023)

Fishing Year 2023 Access Area Allocations

Framework 36 changes the boundaries of Area II to combine both areas formerly known as Closed Area II and Closed Area II-East.

Framework 36 allocates a combined effort into both Area II and Nantucket Lightship-North Access Area. Trips may be declared and taken into both areas, and when it is projected that the total number of combined trips allocated to these areas have been taken, Area II will close to fishing for the remainder of the year and Nantucket Lightship-North will revert to open area.

Fishing Year 2023 LAGC IFQ Trip Allocations for Scallop Access Areas

Atlantic Sea Scallop Quota Monitoring Page

LAGC Incidental Scallop Target TAC: The incidental scallop target TAC for fishing year 2023 is 50,000 lb. Vessels issued an LAGC Incidental Catch scallop permit may land up to 40 lb shucked or 333 lb of in-shell scallops per trip.

Fishing Year 2023 Flatfish ACLs in the Scallop Fishery:

 *Proposed by the New England Fishery Management Council in Framework 65 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan

Important LAGC Program Reminders

Observer Program Updates

Set-Aside Compensation

LAGC IFQ vessels are now eligible for additional compensation when carrying an observer on board and fishing trips longer than 1 day (24 hours). The daily compensation rate of 250 lb will be prorated at 12-hour increments for trips exceeding 24 hours. The amount of compensation a vessel could receive on 1 trip would be capped at 2 days (48 hours) and vessels fishing longer than 48 hours will not receive additional compensation allocation. For example, if the observer compensation rate is 250 lb/day and an LAGC IFQ vessel carrying an observer departs on July 1 at 2200 and lands on July 3 at 0100, the length of the trip would equal 27 hours, or 1 day and 3 hours. In this example, the LAGC IFQ vessel would be eligible for 1 day plus 12 hours of compensation allocation, i.e., 375 lb. An LAGC IFQ vessel will be able to harvest the trip limit and the daily compensation rate on the observed trip, or the vessel could harvest any unfished compensation on a subsequent trip while adhering to the commercial possession limit.

If NOAA Fisheries selects your IFQ vessel for an open area or access area observed trip, you will receive observer compensation credit as described above if the observer set-aside has not been fully harvested. You can fish those additional pounds on the observed IFQ trip above the regular possession limit or on a subsequent trip that fishing year. However, if you harvest the additional pounds on a subsequent trip, you must remain within the possession limits.

We monitor the compensation rates and observer set-aside use closely throughout the year. If information suggests that a different rate is necessary to account for unexpected fishery conditions, we will change the compensation rate as appropriate and necessary. Please see the webpage below for more information on how observer set aside rates were calculated.

2023 Observer Set-Aside Compensation Calculation

Call-In and Survival Craft Requirements

Please read the following letters regarding important information and updates.

Survival Craft Requirements Regarding Capacity

Industry Funded Scallop Program Call-In Requirements

Industry Funded Scallop Call-In Guide

LAGC Calendar Day Landing Restriction

LAGC vessels may not land scallops more than once per calendar day.  For example, an LAGC vessel that lands scallops on Monday may depart on a second trip on the same day it landed scallops (Monday), but cannot land scallops again until Tuesday.

Scallop Pre-Landing Notification

LAGC IFQ vessels must send a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) Scallop Pre-Landing Notification form at least 6 hours before arrival on the way back to port, or immediately after fishing ends if less than 6 hours before arrival. In addition, you must submit this form on trips that are not declared as scallop trips, but on which scallops are kept incidentally. 

Forms must include the:

• Operator’s permit number;
• Vessel trip report (VTR) serial number recorded from that trip's VTR;
• Estimated amount of scallop meats and/or bushels to be landed;
• Estimated time and date of arrival in port;
• Port city and state at which the scallops will be landed; and
• Whether any scallops were caught in the NGOM.

Stellwagen Bank Historic Shipwreck Avoidance

NOAA Fisheries, in conjunction with NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, requests that vessels avoid shipwreck sites on southern Stellwagen Bank within the Sanctuary by keeping gear 400 feet away from each of the site locations listed below. For details on the location of the wrecks please visit the Stellwagen Bank Historic Shipwreck Avoidance Webpage.

No Transit Rotational Areas

Scallop vessels are not allowed to transit the Area II and New York Bight Rotational Areas unless there is a compelling safety reason for transiting the area and the vessel's fishing gear is stowed and not available for immediate use.

Shell Stock Restrictions

• Vessels fishing in the Georges Bank paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) closure area may not retain in-shell scallops.
• LAGC IFQ vessels may possess no more than 4,998 lb of in-shell scallops shoreward of the VMS demarcation line on an open area trip.
• A vessel declared into the Sea Scallop Area Access Program may not possess more than 6,664 lb of in-shell scallops outside of the access area.
• Vessels issued an LAGC NGOM scallop permit and IFQ vessels fishing in the NGOM may possess no more than 1,666 lb in-shell scallops shoreward of the VMS demarcation line.

Fishing Year 2023 Rotational Area Coordinates

Access Areas for Fishing Year 2023

Area II Access Area

¹ The intersection of 41°30′ N lat. and the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary, approximately 41°30′ N lat., 66°34.73′ W long.

² From Point AII2 connected to Point AII3 along the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary.

³ The intersection of 40°40′ N lat. and the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary, approximately 40°40′ N lat. and 65°52.61′ W long.

Nantucket Lightship-North Closed Area

Closed Areas Reverting to Open Area on May 31, 2023, for Fishing Year 2023

Nantucket Lightship-South-Deep Access Area

Nantucket Lightship-Triangle Closed Area

Closed Areas for Fishing Year 2023

Nantucket Lightship-West Scallop Closed Area

New York Bight Scallop Closed Area

Area I Access Area

Elephant Trunk

Georges Bank Accountability Measure Area

¹ The intersection of 41°30′ N lat. and the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary, approximately 41°30′ N lat., 66°34.73′ W long.

² From Point GBAM2 connected to Point GBAM3 along the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary.

³ The intersection of 40°30′ N lat. and the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary, approximately, 65°44.34′ W long.