As a dedicated participant in the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) fishery, I am deeply invested in the sustainable management of our Scallop resource. 

“ I support an F=.21for all areas alternative. This alternative is representative of a F=.25 on Stellwagen and an F=.18 for all other NGOM surveyed areas; resulting in a 2026 NGOM set aside of 437,867lbs. This is a common sense alternative which aligns with the traditional approach utilized for the past four NGOM seasons. This also aligns with the F rate seen in the draft alternative that would have seen an NGOM split area. Overall, this approach is conservative as it is below the 2026 default allocation and will allow orderly access to the resource on Stellwagen.  The Scallop PDT (Plan Development Team) has noted repeatedly, Stellwagen shows an older cohort of Scallops that face natural mortality due to age.

As further evidence of the health of the resource on Stellwagen, in April 2025, Base Auction reported the sale of 378,000 NGOM pounds total. Of these pounds 348,000 lbs were U’s, leaving just 7.9% or 30,000lbs 10/20’s, and 0.1% 20/30 landed. The resource on Stellwagen is large, healthy and can support another strong NGOM season of fishing effort.  I urge you all to stand behind the livelihoods of NGOM fishermen and  support a framework utilizing F=.21 for all areas. 

Thank you all for your consideration.”