February 2, 2018 — There are days when Joe Jurek must feel the loneliness of the long-distance shrimper, a solitary figure in the Gulf of Maine as the only Massachusetts commercial fisherman allowed to harvest coveted northern shrimp from a fishery just entering its fifth year of closure.
Jurek, a Gloucester-based groundfisherman and the captain of the 42-foot FV Mystique Lady, has spent the past month executing weekly trawls for the sweet crustaceans that have disappeared from local fish markets while the fishery has been closed over dire concerns about the health of its shrimp stock.
Jurek is the Massachusetts representative in a two-state research set-aside program and is doing most of his fishing in the inshore vicinity of Cape Ann, Ipswich Bay and nearby Scantum Basin.
As with his counterpart in New Hampshire, Jurek is working with state and regional fishery regulators to collect samples and data that could help determine the future fate of the fishery.
Four weeks into his allotted 10-week fishing season that provides a total allowable catch of 13.3 metric tons for both vessels, Jurek offered a morsel of optimism, saying he has observed a slight increase in abundance from a year ago.
“It seems there are a little bit more this year, particularly around Massachusetts,” Jurek said Tuesday. “We’ve especially noticed more small shrimp.”
That could be good news for regulators, shrimpers, consumers — last year, Cape Ann northern shrimp lovers, led by Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, literally lined the dock with their own buckets waiting for Jurek to land his haul — and of course, the shrimp, also known as Pandalus borealis.
For the past five years, regulators at the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission — which regulates the fishery — and the respective marine resources departments of Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire have wrung their hands over the plight of the northern shrimp.
The stock, through that period, has exhibited all-time lows in biomass, spawning and recruitment, leading to the closures and the establishment of the research set-asides (RSA).
‘Getting better every week’
Last year, Jurek joined one fisherman from New Hampshire and eight trawlers from Maine in the program that provided a total allowable catch of 53 metric tons, with each vessel allowed to catch up to 1,200 pounds of shrimp per trip.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times