Low stocks cancel shrimp season
A commission that oversees Maine’s shrimp industry voted to place a moratorium on shrimping in the Gulf of Maine for 2014 and possibly beyond, the first time such an action has been taken in more than 35 years.
The Northern Shrimp Technical Committee, part of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, made the recommendation after three consecutive summer shrimp surveys indicated a “recruitment failure,” which means there are not enough young shrimp to rebuild the population, marine biologist Kelly Whitmore told the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. She also chairs the committee.
“The stock is in the poorest condition that we’ve seen it, even when we look back to historical information in the late ‘70s when the stock had collapsed, then there was a moratorium in 1978,” she told the network. “And it appears the stock is even worse than it was then.”
Fishermen expect to lose income and fish processors fear their industry will be harmed globally because of the decision, according to the Portland Press Herald.
The newspaper noted that North Atlantic shrimp is a small, but valuable, fishery in New England. More than 85% of the annual shrimp harvest in the Gulf of Maine is caught by Maine boats.
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