Arlington, VA – Effective 2359 hours (EST) on February 17, 2012, the Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section and its member states will close the 2012 northern shrimp fishery. Preliminary landings data indicate harvest reached 1,996 mt on February 11, 2012. Given harvest has averaged about 400 mt per week and the fishery is known to have considerable late reporting, landings are projected to have already exceeded the total allowable catch (TAC) of 2,211 mt.
When it set the specifications for the 2012 fishery, the Section had announced its intention to close the fishery when landings were projected to reach 95% of the TAC (2,100 mt). Any landings above the established TAC is expected to lead to a fishing mortality rate in excess of the management program's fishing mortality threshold (F threshold) of 0.41. Any fishing above the F threshold would lead to overfishing of the stock.
The trawl season began on January 2, 2012 with three landing days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), while the trap season started on February 1, 2012 with a 1,000 pound landing limit per vessel per day. The states of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts will be issuing closure notices consistent with their state procedures. For more information, please contact Robert Beal, ISFMP Director, at rbeal@asmfc.org and 703.842.0740.
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