ELLSWORTH, Maine — January 25, 2013 — Having reviewed landings figures from the first week of Maine’s shrimp fishing season, the state’s top fisheries official has decided not to change fishing hours in the second week.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources released a statement Friday indicating that the DMR commissioner will allow shrimp fishing from sunrise to 3 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28, and Wednesday, Jan. 30. Shrimp trawlers in the Gulf of Maine are allowed to fish only two days a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays, during the 2013 season, which began Jan. 23.
The target limit this year for northern shrimp is 625 metric tons, less than a quarter of what it was for the 2012 season. Six hundred and twenty-five metric tons is equal to nearly 1.4 million pounds.
Jeff Nichols, spokesman for DMR, said Friday that the department is keeping a close eye on shrimp landings in order to avoid catch overruns that have occurred in previous years.
Information about the estimated amount of shrimp caught in the 2013 season’s first week was unavailable Friday afternoon.
“Landings will be monitored closely and fishing hours may be modified for the following week,” DMR officials wrote in Friday’s statement.
Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News