SEAFOODNEWS.COM — June 6, 2014 –Last year the northern shrimp fishery in Maine was shut down when surveys showed a population crash.
On Wednesday, the Northern Shrimp Section of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission held a meeting to review its approach to the stock.
Shrimp industry representatives, like Spencer Fuller of Cozy Harbor Seafood, pressed for a compromise that might lead to opening the fishery again.
"We believe that this is an opportunity to rebuild and rebuild it right," said Spencer Fuller with Cozy Harbor Seafood.
Scientists also found that the models on which they based the shut down last year were faulty, and had to be revised.
But that does not mean the stock is in any better shape. "We know the assessment was rejected for technical reasons it doesn't mean we don't know what's going on in the stocks. We have very reliable surveys that continue to show the stock is in dire shape," said Mike Armstrong, chairman of the ASMFC Northern Shrimp section.
Shrimp are generally fished in Maine when they are 4 to 5 years old, and the last several years have seen a series of recruitment failures, so there are very few shrimp coming into the fishery.
The stock size in 2013 of only 1.1 million pounds was estimated at 5.2% for the biomass reference period (1985-1994), and well below the biomass threshold of 19.85 million pounds and the biomass limit of 13.23 million pounds. Even if the surveys were off by large amounts, the stock will still be well below fishable limits.
No decison on opening the fishery will be made until after the 2014 summer survey. However, regardless of the model used, it is unlikely that a revsion will allow for the fishery to open unless there is a huge spike in recruitment.
And even that, which is possible due to the colder water temperatures this year, would not affect the fishery immediately, as these new recruits would have to grow to a size to be harvested.
That is why despite the rejection of the model used to shut down the fishery, it appears unlikely that the moratorium will be reversed, despite the wishes of the industry to allow even a small fishery.
In a year when cold water shrimp supplies are down globally and market demand is high, the failure of the Maine shrimp fishery is a real economic blow. Companies that have invested in markets are left high and dry when they have no product to sell. Those customers quickly go elsewhere.
But, the fishery in Maine depends on the fish, and coldwater shrimp has been declining across its range. In some parts of the Atlantic the decline is seen as a predation issue as cod stocks recover. But in Maine, the decline may be more related to failure of the shrimp larvae to find food, as the plankton bloom occurs earlier in the year, and the organisms on which shrimp larvae feed heavily are simply not there. If this is the case, it cannot be reversed by the industry wishing it were not so.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.