Saving Seafood

New England’s shuttered shrimp fishery faces key decisions

November 15, 2018 — Two days of meetings will determine if there’s going to be a shrimp fishing season in New England next year, and it doesn’t look promising.

The fishery, based mostly in Maine, has been shut down since 2013 over concerns about a depleted population of the shrimp. An advisory panel that reports to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meets Thursday in Portland to make a recommendation about having a season in 2019.

The commission’s shrimp section will then cast a vote on the subject Friday, also in Portland. Recent scientific materials released by the Atlantic States commission say the shrimp population remains in poor shape despite several years without fishing pressure. The warming of the Gulf of Maine is often cited as a problem.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Times

Vote this week on keeping New England shrimp fishery shut

November 12, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Fishing managers will decide this week if New England’s fishery for shrimp must remain closed because of concerns about the environment and the animal’s population.

The shrimp fishery, based mostly in Maine, has been closed since 2013. The small, pink shrimp, once a popular winter seafood item, have been mostly unavailable to consumers in America since.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Washington Times

ASMFC Northern Shrimp Advisory Panel & Section Meeting Materials Now Available

November 12, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Meeting agendas and materials are now available for the November 15 & 16 meetings of the Northern Shrimp Advisory Panel and Section. Links to those materials follow and can also be found on the Commission website at available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/meeting-archive.

Ruling Soon On New England Shrimp Fishery

November 8, 2018 — Fishing regulators are collecting the final comments from the public before deciding whether New England’s shrimp fishery should remain closed for another year.

Scientists and environmentalists have portrayed the shrimp fishery as a victim of climate change, as the warming temperature of the Gulf of Maine has made the shrimp’s habitat inhospitable. The fishery was shut down in 2013.

An arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission was collecting comments about possible new rules for the fishery, should it ever reopen, through 5 p.m. Wednesday. It’s expected to make a decision next week about whether to allow a fishing season in 2019.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public

Fisheries regulators to deliver the shrimp season news next week

November 6, 2018 — The wait will soon be over for gourmets and harvesters who yearn to know whether Maine shrimp will be on their plates — or in their nets — this winter.

Next week, fisheries regulators will meet over two days in Portland to consider the health of the Northern Shrimp resource and changes to the Northern Shrimp Fishery Management Plan, Most important, they will also determine whether there will be a shrimp fishery in the Gulf of Maine this winter and if so, how large it will be.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Technical Advisory Panel and Regulatory Section will meet on Thursday, Nov. 15, and Friday, Nov. 16, respectively, at the Maine Historical Society at 489 Congress St. in Portland.

The panel will meet Thursday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. to review public comment on Draft Addendum I to the management plan, review the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment and prepare recommendations about both adoption of the draft addendum and the dates and landings quota, if any, for the 2019 shrimp fishing season for consideration by the Northern Shrimp Section.

On Friday, the section will meet from 9 a.m. to noon to consider the advisory panel’s recommendations, then take final action on the proposed changes and set specifications for the 2019 season.

The addendum would give each of the three states that have shrimp landings — primarily Maine but also New Hampshire and Massachusetts — the authority to allocate its shrimp landing quota set by the ASMFC between gear types in the event the fishery reopens. In the last years that there was a commercial fishery — there has been a moratorium on fishing since 2013 — trawlers caught about 90 percent of shrimp landed but there was a growing trap fishery.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Rule change for shuttered shrimp fishery could be coming

November 5, 2018 —  Fishery managers are seeking feedback on potential changes to New England’s long-shuttered shrimp fishery if it ever reopens.

Shrimp fishing has been shut down off Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire since 2013. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering changes to the way it allocates quota in the fishery.

The commission’s holding public hearings in Augusta, Maine, on Monday and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Tuesday.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Boston.com

ASMFC Northern Shrimp Section and Advisory Panel to Meet November 15 & 16

November 1, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp  Advisory Panel (AP) and Section (Section) will meet on November 15 and 16, 2018, respectively, at the Maine Historical Society, Reading Room, 489 Congress Street, Portland, Maine. The AP will meet November 15 (1:30 – 4:30 p.m.) to review public comment on Draft Addendum I, review the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment, and formulate AP recommendations for the Section’s consideration on both the Draft Addendum and the 2019 fishery specifications. The Draft Addendum proposes providing states the authority to allocate their state-specific quota between gear types in the event the fishery reopens. The Section will meet November 16 (9 a.m. – Noon) to consider final action on Addendum I and set 2019 specifications. Meeting materials will be available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/meeting-archive by November 9th.
 
For more information, please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

NORTH CAROLINA: Fishermen find foot-long shrimp in their nets

November 1, 2018 — Asian tiger shrimp are not necessarily a new commodity to the area, with sightings recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in eight North Carolina watersheds.

An invasive species, the shrimp are native to East Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Australia.

They appear different from shrimp native to the area, with their rusty brown color and black-and-white banding across their tail. Sometimes, the stripe appears as a reddish-orange stripe, stated USGS.

And their size is typically larger than the white shrimp harvested by local fishermen — tiger shrimp can reach up to 30 cm, or 11.8 inches, almost a foot long.

But, their appearance is making waves on social media for some fishermen in the area.

Spotted in Eastern North Carolina, including the Cape Fear River, Neuse River, White Oak River, New River and Pamlico Sound, fishermen have been catching the shellfish and serving them up.

John Mallette, a fisherman from Sneads Ferry, wrote in a message to The Daily News that he’s seen more of the striped species while shrimping lately, but they are not plentiful.

“I probably catch six or eight (tiger) shrimp for every 6,000 pounds of regular white shrimp,” Mallette wrote.

But, he said the rare catch makes for a yummy dinner — which can be split like a butterfly and cooked like a lobster.

“They’re delicious,” Mallette wrote. “We eat them all the time… I butterfly (them), pan fry, and toss in teriyaki sauce like a chicken wing.”

Mallette posted a photo of the giant shrimp — which nearly matched the size of his hand — and garnered over 100 shares on Facebook.

Kathy Mathis, formerly of Carteret County, was one of the people who shared the post to a Sneads Ferry group.

Read the full story at The Daily News

Mandatory reporting in Hawaiian longline fishery on table at science meeting

October 16, 2018 — Mandatory electronic reporting for the Hawaii longline fishery is on the agenda when the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) starts its two-day meeting Monday in Hilo, Hawaii.

The SSC is also expected to discuss acceptable biological catch limits for Hawaiian gray snapper, deep-water shrimp and Kona crab as well as the management of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtle interactions in the shallow-set longline fishery.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Hearings set on future of New England shrimp fishery

October 16, 2018 — Interstate fishing managers are holding a pair of public hearings about the future of the New England shrimp fishery, which continues to look bleak.

The shrimp fishery has been shut down since 2013 and the shrimp have been largely unavailable to the public. A new analysis of the shrimp stock says they remain depleted and threatened by warming waters.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is hosting the hearings on Nov. 5 in Augusta, Maine, and Nov. 6 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. An arm of the commission is set to vote on whether to reopen the fishery late in the month.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The State