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Scientists: scallop abundance up but biomass down; recruitment of small scallops weighs on current catch
Summary
Researchers and council staff told state senators that recent large recruitment events have increased scallop numbers but not biomass because many new scallops are below the dredge selectivity threshold; management uncertainty and changing ocean conditions have raised natural mortality and complicated quota advice.
Scientists from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and New England Fishery Management Council staff told a joint Senate hearing that the sea scallop resource is showing strong recruitment but low exploitable biomass, a pattern that reduces immediate catch advice despite a growing number of animals.
Dr. Kevin Stokesbury, dean at UMass Dartmouth’s School of Marine Science and Technology, described the surveys his group has run with industry partners since 1999 and summarized recent results: “there's about 24,000,000,000 scallops in our resource right now,” he said, meaning a very large number of small animals. He explained that because many of those scallops…
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