2022 Season landed scallop catch
The 2022 commercial scallop season closed at midnight on 31 December 2022.
Season Update: TAC Increase
An increase in the scallop fishery TAC of 1,000 tonnes to 4,495.2 tonnes or 436kg/unit has been approved following consultation with the Scallop Fishery Advisory Committee. The increase took effect from 5 October 2022.
2022 Season operational guidelines
Following the completion of scallop surveys and a recommendation by the Scallop Fishery Advisory Committee (ScFAC), an opening of the commercial scallop fishery has been approved by the Minister.
The fishery will open from midnight 24 June to 31 December 2022 with a total allowable catch (TAC) of 3,495 tonnes or 339kg/ unit.
To fish in the 2022 commercial scallop season licence holders must apply to activate a fishing licence (scallop) by completing the 'Vary a Fishing Licence (Scallop)' application form. Participating vessels must also have an operating vessel monitoring system (VMS).
Open Areas
North West
Open 8 July 2022, State scallop waters west of Point Sorell and North of Bluff Hill Point, excluding waters less than 20m, scallop dredge prohibited areas, along with a spawning biomass closure.
This area has been open with minimum size limit for commercial scallops of 85mm.
The map below depicts the North West open area.
North west scallop open area (top) scallop spawning biomass closure (bottom).
Lower East
Open 24 June 2022 State scallop waters south of Schouten Island and north of Tasman Island, excluding waters less than 20m, scallop dredge prohibited areas, along with a spawning biomass closure.
This area has been open with minimum size limit for commercial scallops of 90mm.
The map below depicts the Lower East open area.
Lower east scallop open area and spawning closure 2022
Scallop Surveys
Exploratory surveys commenced in April and covered areas from Bicheno north to Babel Island, and the far north west. They were undertaken by commercial scallop vessels using commercial scallop dredges, with the aim of identifying beds that might be considered for opening this season or a future season.
Targeted surveys of Marion Bay and White Rock took place in late April followed by the North West in mid June. Surveys followed a random stratified survey plan developed by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), where random dredge tows were allocated to the survey ares to determine scallop biomass. The surveys were overseen by independent IMAS and NRE Tas observers onboard participating vessels by. In total, 8,887 tonnes of scallop biomass was calculated for the White Rock and Marion Bay surveys areas, and 21,65 tonnes calculated for the North West survey area.
IMAS also undertook a towed camera survey of the White Rock area, repeating the survey done in 2021 and 2022.
2022 scallop survey locations, blue dots targeted surveys, red dots exploratory surveys.