ELLSWORTH – Maine’s fishing managers are proposing that fishermen be allowed to catch about the same amount of the state’s beloved scallops in the coming winter fishing season as they did this year.

Maine divides the coasts into three scallop fishing zones. The state Department of Marine Resources says next year fishermen in the zones covering southern and midcoast Maine should be allowed to possess up to 15 gallons of scallops per day.

Fishermen in the Cobscook Bay zone would be allowed to possess up to 10 gallons per day. Those limits are the same as 2015-16.

The state manages the fishery closely in part because it rebuilt after a collapse in the 2000s. Consumers pay top dollar for Maine’s big, meaty scallops.

The state’s proposal is subject to September public hearings.


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