The administration of United States President Donald Trump is cutting commercial fishing regulations nationwide, including plans to reopen New England waters to scallop fishing, which has been banned since 1994 due to overfishing.
White House adviser Peter Navarro stated in a briefing, “We’re opening the Atlantic and the Pacific, and the American consumers are going to benefit from what we’re doing now.”
The US Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced regional priorities aimed at revitalizing the seafood sector. NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service manages 45 fisheries, setting quotas and fishing seasons in consultation with federal scientists and local fishermen.
A 1994 National Marine Fisheries Service assessment found a 40 percent decline in cod stock on Georges Bank over four years and concluded that the fishing fleet was about twice the size the area could sustain, according to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Although the council discussed restarting work to consider scallop fishing on the northern edge of Georges Bank, spokesman Alexander Dunn said it was not added to the 2026 priorities.
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