The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shut down the Gulf of Maine’s scallop fishery Friday.

“As of April 11, 2025, no scallop vessel fishing under federal scallop regulations may fish for, possess, or land scallops in or from the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area,” NOAA’s announcement reads. “The scallop regulations require that we close this area once we project that 100% of the 2025 Northern Gulf of Maine Set-Aside will be taken.”

Members of Maine’s fishing industry have been anticipating the closure, saying regulators delayed finalizing this year’s catch limits amid their transition to the Trump Administration.

“It hasn’t been as easy to get information this year from NOAA fisheries,” said Togue Brawn, a Member of the New England Fishery Management Council and the founder of Downeast Dayboat and Dayboat Blue. “As we know, things are changing with the government, people are getting fired, people are afraid to talk. It’s a little dystopian, and frankly unsettling, and it does a disservice to the fishermen and the employees that are there trying to manage the fishery.” 

The fishery shuts down every year once projections show the allowed set-aside for the year will be met, but this closure marks the first time NOAA has closed the fishery in the middle of the season — which some believe poses uncertainty for fishermen who traveled to the southern reaches of the Gulf of Maine fishing area off of Massachusetts.

“They figure out how many guys are going to fish there, and they can estimate — ‘okay, we’re going to be here for 18 days, maybe.’ So, they planned on being there for three weeks,” said Brawn. “But if there’s a closure in the middle, are they going to go back to Maine? If it doesn’t reopen until the end of May, will they get housing or mooring? So, there’s a lot of uncertainty there.”

NOAA said the closure is in effect through March 31, 2026, or until the New England Fishery Management Council’s proposed set-aside is approved.

If this year’s plan, Framework 39, is approved, Maine’s Scallop fishery would reopen for the remainder of 2025’s season. Until then, the fishery is subject to a default measure — which has a limit thousands of pounds lower than this year’s proposed limits. 

“I think what’s more exceptional about this is not the closure, it’s the lack of transparency and the fishermen don’t know what’s happening,” said Brawn. “When you run a business, you want to know what’s going on, you have to have some degree of stability.

The default quota allows fishermen to catch roughly 315,000 pounds of scallops combined. However, the New England Fishery Management Council is recommending a Northern Gulf of Maine set-aside of 675,563 pounds for 2025.

“The proposed rule for Framework Adjustment 39 to the Fishery Management Plan, which would increase the NGOM Set-Aside, published on March 18, 2025, and the comment period closed on April 2, 2025,” NOAA’s announcement reads. “If Framework 39 is approved, the final rule implementing final 2025 scallop fishery specifications would reopen the NGOM Management Area under the proposed NGOM Set-Aside for the remainder of 2025.”

However, according to the announcement, there are exemptions for those fishing in state waters. 

“If you have a valid Maine or Massachusetts state scallop permit, you may continue to fish in Maine or Massachusetts state waters,” NOAA’s announcement reads. “Within the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area under the State Waters Exemption program.”