February 1, 2013 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:
After reviewing early season landings reports for the shrimp trawl fishery and gathering input from shrimp trappers, the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources Patrick Keliher has amended control measures to ensure that each fishery remain within its established quota.
The quota for the Maine shrimp season is 625 metric tons, a 72 percent reduction from last year, with trawlers allowed to land 87 percent of the total and trappers allowed 13 percent. Each fishery will close when 85 percent of its total allowable catch is projected to be reached.
For trawlers, Commissioner Keliher has eliminated the sunrise to 3pm time-of-day restriction established for the first two weeks of the fishery, allowing them to fish 24-hours a day for the two days a week allowed, Monday and Wednesday. The Commissioner will continue to closely monitor landings and issue notices of change to hours if needed.
The Commissioner has also lowered the daily limit for shrimp trappers from 800 pounds per day established by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in December to 500 pounds per day. The trap season begins on February 5, 2013. Trappers are allowed to haul Monday through Saturday, 24-hours a day.
The Commissioner made the decision to control effort through daily landing limits after hearing from industry members during a public listening session today. Industry members made it clear to the Commissioner that lowering the number of landing days would be problematic because fishermen would either lose fishing days or might have to fish in dangerous conditions when the weather is bad.
For more information visit http://www.maine.gov/dmr/index.htm or contact Chris Vonderweidt at 624-6558.