Will Maine have a shrimp season for the first time since 2013?
Maine shrimpers are waiting with baited breath as a board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decides Thursday if the fishing season will restart after being closed since 2013.
The closure of Maine’s shrimp fishery has been a loss for the economy, the Associated Press reported.
Going back to 1962, the state’s northern shrimp fishery had its best year in 1996, when the catch was valued at $12.9 million, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. As recently as 2010, the dollar value fell to $6.66 million and, by 2013, the catch was valued at $1 million, according to the DMR.
Maine’s lobster industry, by comparison, had a catch value of $495 million in 2015, according to the DMR.
One Maine native who has experienced the impact of the closure firsthand is Spencer Fuller, a shrimp and lobster buyer with Cozy Harbor Seafood in Portland.
Fuller told the AP that Cozy Harbor was once the largest processor’s of Maine shrimp in the country, but his business has suffered with the closure. He said that while Cozy Harbor is prepared for the fishery to remain closed this season, the closure will still be bad news for Maine’s entire fishing industry.
“All you have to do is look back to the history of shrimp here in the state of Maine and the contributions it has made over the last 60 years,” Fuller told the AP. “It’s a big deal not only for us, but for the wharfs we deal with, markets we deal with.”
Read more
Fisheries Commission: New England's shrimp fishery won't reopen in 2017
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments