A looming US government shutdown doesn't appear to have the scallop industry concerned, despite uncertainty around what can be harvested this year.

"We haven’t experienced any shift in demand in light of the recent government shutdown last month," George Kouri, co-CEO of New Bedford, Massachusetts-based scallop specialist Northern Wind, told IntraFish Friday. "As we’re nearing the end of this fishing season, and with most major commitments already in hand, we’re not anticipating anything out of the ordinary at this time."

New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) recommended 62.5 million pounds of harvest for fishing year 2019 prior to the January shutdown, and has been generally optimistic about scallops this year. The industry has also been aided by high demand for scallops with consumers willing to pay high prices.

It remains unclear how another shutdown could impact NEFMC's approved Framework Adjustment 30 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan, which, if not implemented by NOAA, could lower that quota substantially.

NEFMC Fishery Analyst Jonathon Peros told IntraFish the council remains concerned Framework 30 will not be implemented by the start of the 2019 fishing year, which is April 1.

If the framework isn't implemented by NOAA, a default allocation would result in a little over 20 million pounds of harvest for 2019 as vessels would have limited fishing access, he said.

All of his counterparts at NMFS who are involved with Atlantic sea scallops are back to work, and have started have started the rulemaking process with the intention to implement new allocations as soon as possible, Peros said.

"The Council has sent letters to NOAA Fisheries and the United States Coast Guard requesting that they expedite the processing of key documentation and permits to ensure that vessels are not tied to the dock because of expired permits," Peros said.

Kouri and others in the industry seem to have confidence that scallops can weather another political storm.

"Our outlook is very much geared on the positive," Kouri said. "Even with the possibility of another shutdown impending, there has not been an atypical market reaction thus far."

Joe Furtado, executive vice president of scallop harvester and processor Eastern Fisheries, also based in New Bedford, echoed Kouri.

He told IntraFish there has been no drop in supply, and nothing notably changing for overall global demand.

The Atlantic scallop fleet has been operating on its existing fishing plan, which is in place until the end of March, and has enough fishing capacity to weather any setbacks to NMFS from a looming shutdown, he said.

US lawmakers and and President Trump must agree by midnight Feb. 15 on a measure to fund government agencies to prevent another shutdown, with the former being the longest in US history at 35 days.