November 21, 2019 — New England shrimp are still in bad shape despite a fishing shutdown that is unlikely to end soon, new data show.
The region’s shrimp fishing industry, long based mostly in Maine, has been shut down since 2013 because of concerns about the health of the population. Recent surveys off Maine and New Hampshire say signs are still poor, scientists with the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said.
A big part of the problem is that the shrimp thrive in cold water and the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than most of the world’s oceans. The mean average summer sea bottom temperature was about 42 degrees Fahrenheit from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, and it rose to 45 degrees this year, said Dustin Colson Leaning, a fishery management plan coordinator for the Atlantic States.
That small difference makes it harder for young shrimp to thrive and join the population, he said.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Bangor Daily News