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By daybreak
Published: March 23, 2008
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General Category scallop boats fishing the Elephant Trunk Scallop Access Area had a short but productive opening for 13 days in March. The general category scallop fleet was allocated 865 trips in the Elephant Trunk Scallop Access Area (ETAA) for the 2008 fishing year. The area opened to general category vessels on March 1 and closed to general category scallop vessels on March 13, 2008.

Boats reported excellent catch rates, often needing only 2-3 short tows to harvest enough scallops to reach their 400 lb daily limit. The majority of the scallops were of excellent quality and fishing was easy when the weather was reasonable. The march opening presents a challenge for scalloping crews as much of the weather is cold and windy. 

In 2007 over 300 limited access scallop vessels and several hundred general category vessels participated in the scallop fishery. U. S. sea scallop landings have exceeded 50 million pounds in recent years, with revenues around 300 million dollars annually. According to NEFMC reports, the Amercian scallop fishery is among the most valuable U.S. fisheries.

American scallop boats are regulated by the sea scallop fishery management plan which was developed by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) and administered by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

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