Scallop Farm Seeks Permit to Skip Normal Fishing Rules
Published Date: 7/20/2026
Notice
Summary
Scallop Shack Farms wants special permission to try new fishing methods that don’t follow some usual rules, aiming to make scallop and tilefish trips more efficient. This affects federally permitted fishing vessels and could change how they fish, possibly saving time and fuel. You’ve got until August 4, 2026, to share your thoughts before a final decision is made.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Combined Trips Save Fuel and Time
If you own or operate the participating federally permitted vessel, the pilot would let you combine scallop and tilefish trips and is expected to save about 24 hours of steam time and ~300 gallons of diesel per trip. At an assumed diesel price of $5.00 per gallon, that equals about $1,500 saved per trip and an anticipated $49,500 total savings across 33 trips.
One Vessel Authorized to Land Tilefish in GB/SNE
This EFP would exempt one LAGC scallop vessel from the prohibition on landing species other than scallops and monkfish in the Georges Bank and Southern New England (GB/SNE) Scallop Dredge Fishery Exemption Area. The pilot covers 33 trips of 2–4 days each (total 66–132 days) and would run from issuance through July 1, 2027.
Quota Effects on Tilefish Expected To Be Minor
The EFP could increase this vessel's annual landings of blueline tilefish, but the commercial blueline tilefish total allowable landings (TAL) increased from 20,894 lb to 109,846 lb (a 426 percent increase) in 2026, and NMFS does not expect the EFP to cause a significant quota overage. The golden tilefish incidental TAL remains 68,949 lb for 2026; the 33 EFP trips would represent about 4 percent of annual trips that land golden tilefish and are not expected to cause a premature incidental closure.
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