November 18, 2016 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — State and federal fisheries regulators have imposed a moratorium on shrimp fishing in the Gulf of Maine for the fourth consecutive season because of “the depleted condition of the resource.”
Meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., last Thursday, Northern Shrimp Section of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission extended the current moratorium on commercial fishing for the 2017 fishing season that would, if fishing were allowed, begin Dec. 1.
The Section also approved a 116,845 pound (53 metric ton) “research set aside” to scientists to continue to collect important biological data about the size of the shrimp population and where the shrimp are located. As a practical matter, that means 15 fishermen chosen by lottery from among those who apply will have a chance to harvest, and sell, a few shrimp. Preference will be given to individuals in the lottery using specific gear designed to limit the catch of small shrimp and who were active in the shrimp fishery June 7, 2011.
According to the scientific evidence, the news for Northern shrimp, and the fishermen who made a living chasing them in winter, is grim.
In 1969, Maine fishermen landed more than 24 million pounds of shrimp. Total landings, including those in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, totaled more than 28 million pounds.
After a steady decline, landings surged to 17.9 million pounds in Maine (21 million pounds overall) during the 1996 season that ran from December 1995 through April 1996.
During the truncated 2013 season, the last before the moratorium, Maine shrimp landings were just over 639,000 pounds.
According to the ASMFC, the latest stock status report for Gulf of Maine northern shrimp indicates that measures of both abundance and biomass volume over the past four years “are the lowest on record” for the 33 years during which the surveys have been done.