Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office; Public Hearings

Issuing agencies

Abstract

NMFS will hold five public hearings in November and December 2026 to solicit input on a potential Secretarial amendment to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. If the Secretary of Commerce determines that such an amendment is warranted, the action would consider allowing permit stacking in the limited access scallop fleet. NMFS is soliciting written scoping comments on this topic.

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 211 (Tuesday, November 3, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 211 (Tuesday, November 3, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69243-69244]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-22425]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XG172]


Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office; Public Hearings

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public hearings and comment period.

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SUMMARY: NMFS will hold five public hearings in November and December 
2026 to solicit input on a potential Secretarial amendment to the 
Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. If the Secretary of 
Commerce determines that such an amendment is warranted, the action 
would consider allowing permit stacking in the limited access scallop 
fleet. NMFS is soliciting written scoping comments on this topic.

DATES: Public hearing will be held in November and December 2026. 
Comments are due on January 4, 2027. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for 
specific hearing dates.

ADDRESSES: See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for hearing addresses.
    You may submit comments on this document, identified by NOAA-NMFS-
2026-3136, by any of the following methods:
    <bullet> Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Visit <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and type NOAA-NMFS-2026-3136 in the Search box. 
Click on the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter 
or attach your comments.
    <bullet> Mail: Submit written comments to Emily Keiley, 55 Great 
Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930.
    Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other 
address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, 
may not be considered by NMFS. All comments received are a part of the 
public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on 
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> without change. All personal identifying 
information (e.g., name, address), confidential business information, 
or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender 
will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter 
``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain anonymous).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Emily Keiley, 978-281-9116, 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#492c2420253067222c20252c300927262828672e263f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c4a1a9ada8bdeaafa1ada8a1bd84aaaba5a5eaa3abb2">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Hearing Locations--NMFS will hold two online 
webinars and three in-person public hearings:
    1. Tuesday, November 17, 2026, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.; Hilton Garden Inn 
Boston Logan Airport, 100 Boardman St., Boston, MA 02128; phone (617) 
567-6789. Note: The Scoping Meeting will begin 30 minutes after the 
conclusion of the Joint Scallop Committee and Advisory Panel Meeting.
    2. Monday, November 23, 2026, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; This meeting will 
be conducted via webinar accessible via the internet from <a href="https://noaanmfs-meets.webex.com/noaanmfs-meets/j.php?MTID=medf57ebff82a5b2f8eba37822902afaf">https://noaanmfs-meets.webex.com/noaanmfs-meets/j.php?MTID=medf57ebff82a5b2f8eba37822902afaf</a>.
    3. Thursday, December 3, 2026, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.; Barnegat Light 
Volunteer Fire Department, 907 Central Ave., Barnegat Light, NJ 08006; 
phone (609) 494-1280.
    4. Monday, December 7, 2026, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; This meeting will be 
conducted via webinar accessible via the internet from <a href="https://noaanmfs-meets.webex.com/noaanmfs-meets/j.php?MTID=mb0a2a4828a3a66f98fecf5e467c73a44">https://noaanmfs-meets.webex.com/noaanmfs-meets/j.php?MTID=mb0a2a4828a3a66f98fecf5e467c73a44</a>.
    5. Monday, December 14, 2026, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.; University of 
Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology East, 
836 South Rodney French Blvd., New Bedford, MA 02744; phone: (508) 999-
8193.

Background

    Based on comments received in response to Executive Order 14276, 
the Secretary of Commerce is considering whether to develop an 
amendment to the Atlantic Scallop Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to 
allow permit stacking in the limited access scallop fishery. The 
publication of this Federal Register notice does not commit the 
Secretary to take action at this time, but is intended to notify the 
public of the opportunity to be heard and that NMFS, on behalf of the 
Secretary, is soliciting feedback to inform the Secretary's decision 
whether to develop an amendment for permit stacking.
    The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) established 
the Limited Access component of the sea scallop fishery through 
Amendment 4 (1994) to the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP. This action was 
part of an effort control program designed to reduce fishing mortality 
and rebuild the scallop resource in what was, at that time, an 
overfished stock. Amendment 4 included measures designed to limit 
increases in a vessel's fishing power and reduce fishing pressure, such 
as limiting fishing time through days-at-sea (DAS) management, crew 
restrictions, gear restrictions, reporting requirements, and vessel 
upgrade restrictions.
    Excess capacity remains in the limited access scallop fishery; that 
is, the capacity of individual vessels and the fleet as a whole is 
greater than what is needed to efficiently harvest sustainable levels 
of catch. Since the limited access program was implemented in 1994, the 
annual allocation of DAS has reduced steadily. Due to effort reductions 
in Amendment 4 (1994) and Amendment 7 (1999), DAS allocations were 
reduced almost by half from 204 DAS in 1994 to 120 DAS in 1999. Since 
1999, the number of open area DAS has continued

[[Page 69244]]

to decline, although more effort has been allocated to fish in access 
areas, which served to offset that reduction. In fishing year 2026, a 
full-time vessel was allocated 36 open area DAS and no access area 
trips.
    Some members of the industry have commented that the current low 
allocations, paired with increasing costs, are reducing profits and 
suggesting the reconsideration of certain management approaches may be 
timely. Some crews routinely work on multiple vessels in one fishing 
year. Further, reports suggest that some ports are congested with 
vessels tied to the dock for the majority of the year causing safety 
and space issues.
    The Secretary is considering addressing excess capacity in the 
limited access scallop fishing by allowing up to two limited access 
scallop permits to be combined on a single vessel. The vessel would be 
permitted to fish the allocations for both permits, which would reduce 
business expenses associated with maintaining multiple vessels with low 
DAS allocations.
    To mitigate risks of fleet consolidation, job loss, and effort 
spillover into other fisheries, any potential Secretarial amendment 
under consideration would evaluate specific protective management 
measures, including but not limited to:
    <bullet> Limiting stacked permits to those within the same Limited 
Access category (i.e., full-time, part-time, occasional);
    <bullet> Requiring stacking to be a one-time, permanent, and 
irreversible action (i.e., prohibiting de-stacking);
    <bullet> Whether to restrict permit stacking to strictly respect 
existing vessel length, tonnage, and horsepower baseline restrictions 
(i.e., disallowing a permit carrying a smaller baseline specification 
to stack onto a vessel with larger baselines and to ensure stacking is 
not used to bypass vessel replacement limits);
    <bullet> Narrowing allowable permit stacking exclusively to vessels 
under common ownership or common control in order to avoid fleet 
concentration and accommodate the needs of active owner-operators; and
    <bullet> Maintaining the ownership cap of no more than 5 percent of 
the total number of limited access permits.
    NMFS is seeking public input on all aspects of a potential action 
to allow permit stacking. Additional details are available in the 
public hearing document, available at <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-mid-atlantic/commercial-fishing/scoping-potential-secretarial-action-implement-permit">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-mid-atlantic/commercial-fishing/scoping-potential-secretarial-action-implement-permit</a>.

Special Accommodations

    These hearings are physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other 
auxiliary aid should be directed to Emily Keiley, (978) 281-9116 at 
least 5 days prior to any meeting date.
    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: October 30, 2026.
Kelly Denit,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-22425 Filed 11-2-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P


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