Maine Dept. of Marine Resources Closes Parts of Penobscot Bay to Scalloping
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Effective Feb. 2, parts of Penobscot Bay are closed to scalloping, as the state attempts to protect the scallop broodstock.
“The Commissioner adopts this emergency rulemaking to establish scallop conservation closures within Middle Penobscot Bay Islands, and also, Somes Sound and Cranberry Isles in Zone 2,” said the DMR in a Jan. 30 announcement. “The Department is concerned that continued harvesting for the remainder of the 2019-2020 fishing season in these areas will reduce scallop broodstock further, as well as jeopardize sublegal scallops that were observed in the 2019 Spring Scallop survey that is essential to the ongoing recruitment, regrowth and recovery of the scallop resource. An immediate conservation closure is necessary to reduce the risk of unusual damage and imminent depletion of the scallop resource in the Middle Penobscot Bay and Cranberry Isles areas.”
Targeted closures are imposed as conservation measures to assist in rebuilding specific areas of the state, the DMR said in its rule making.
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