Bycatch limit shuts scalllop area

Closed Area II will remain off-limits to scallop fishermen until June 2010, NMFS said.

NMFS says scallop vessels have caught the 150,000 pounds of yellowtail flounder allowed as bycatch.

The scallop fishing area is a major breeding groud for yellowtail flounder, and hasn't been open to fishermen in four or five years, Ross Paasche, head of slaes and marketing for Seatrade International and president of the American Scallop Association, told IntraFish last week.