December 10, 2013 — Maine shrimp traps will be gathering nothing but snow this season with the news that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) voted for the first time in 20 years to close the Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery.
The fishermen who rely on the fishery for a third to half of their yearly income should be able to get government financial aid. If anyone deserves it, they do. The preliminary value for the 2013 season was pegged at USD 1.2 million.
While the goal of any fishery management plan is to ensure that the fishery is sustainable, the Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery complexities can make that difficult when the model used to set the quota needs improvement. The Northern shrimp fishery 2013 quota was set at what was thought to be a sustainable fishing mortality rate — and regardless, the fishermen still caught less than the total allowable catch — but it was learned retroactively that the season had a fishing mortality rate above the target and threshold that was defined by the ASMFC Northern Shrimp Technical Committee.
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