Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery; State Waters Exemption

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NMFS approves and implements an exemption for Northern Gulf of Maine federally permitted vessels with state-waters permits issued from the State of Maine to continue fishing in the Maine state-waters portion of the Northern Gulf of Maine management area once NMFS has announced that the Federal total allowable catch has been fully harvested in a given year. Maine requested this exemption as part of the Scallop State Water Exemption Program, which specifies that a state may be eligible for a state waters exemption to specific Federal regulations if it has a scallop fishery and a scallop conservation program that does not jeopardize the biomass and fishing mortality/ effort limit objectives of the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. Based on the information that Maine has submitted, NMFS has determined that Maine qualifies for this exemption and that this exemption will not have an impact on the effectiveness of Federal management measures for the scallop fishery overall or within the Northern Gulf of Maine management area.