Holly Masterson, right, puts scallops in a bag held by her stepfather, David Horner, so they can be weighed aboard the F/V Luke and Grace in Tremont on Jan. 14, 2019. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald, file

Hauling scallops from federal waters in the Gulf of Maine has been temporarily prohibited because federal regulators have yet to finalize annual catch limits.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the closure Friday afternoon. It is the first time the federal body has shut down the regional fishery midseason since the regulations were put in place 16 years ago.

The closure will be in effect through March 31, 2026, or until the final 2025 catch limits are approved.

NOAA typically passes annual rules when the federal scalloping season begins on April 1. But if those limits aren’t set, a stopgap measure permits only a limited amount of fishing — a limit that was reached Friday, just 11 days after the season began.

“No scallop vessel fishing under federal scallop regulations may fish for, possess, or land scallops in or from Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area,” NOAA said in its announcement. “Scallop regulations require that we close this area once we project that 100 percent of the 2025 Northern Gulf of Maine Set-Aside will be taken.”

The Northern Gulf of Maine management area — which reaches from Boston to the Canadian border — was established by NOAA in 2008. Since then, regulators have set an annual limit of how many scallops can be caught in the area.

But if the annual limit isn’t set, fisheries enter a period called default, which puts smaller, temporary quotas into place to prevent potential overfishing. The default quota — 315,449 pounds of scallops — is less than half the limit that the New England Fishery Management Council recommended to NOAA for this season.

Members of Maine’s fishing community told the Press Herald this week that NOAA fishery regulators have been challenged by the transition to a new presidential administration and by the federal staffing cuts the Trump administration is making. The delay on scalloping, and the uncertainty about how long the pause may last, has many of Maine’s scallopers on edge.

When asked last week about the expected closure, NOAA declined to comment at that time. “Per long-standing practice, we are not discussing internal personnel and management matters, nor do we do speculative interviews,” a spokesperson said.

Those with valid scallop permits in Maine may continue to fish in state waters — federal waters begin 3 miles offshore.