Saving Seafood

Shutdown of New England Shrimp Fishery to Continue in 2020

December 10, 2019 — New England’s shrimp fishing industry will remain shut down next year and likely beyond.

Interstate regulators met on Dec. 6 to consider the future of the industry, which has been shut down since 2013 and is under a moratorium until 2021. A regulatory panel with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission briefly discussed the possibility of reopening the fishery, but members said that might prevent the shrimp population from recovering.

The shrimp population in the Gulf of Maine is suffering due to the impacts of warming waters. Recent surveys show the species’ abundance at or near all-time lows, according to materials provided by the fisheries commission.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Atlantic Halibut Subject of NOAA Research

December 9, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries is working with fishermen across Cape Cod to see if the Atlantic halibut is showing signs of recovery in the Gulf of Maine as well as the New England region.

A three-part study is currently underway to see if the halibut population is rebuilding after the size of the fish shrunk over centuries.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center is working with local fishermen to understand the life history, stock structure, and movement patterns of the Atlantic halibut.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Herring Fishing To Be Limited Off New England For Months

December 4, 2019 — The inshore waters of the Gulf of Maine from Cape Cod to the Canadian border have been closed to herring fishing through the end of the year to prevent overharvesting.

Federal regulators cut this year’s catch limit for Atlantic herring based on last year’s stock assessment. Kirby Rootes-Murdy, with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, says regulations mandate that the fishery must be closed when 92% of the area catch limit has been harvested.

“There is a by-catch allowance, which is the non-directed fishery,” says Rootes-Murdy. “Two thousand pounds can be taken incidentally, but the directed fishery is closed.”

Read the full story at Maine Public

Regulators to consider coming shrimp season

December 4, 2019 — The fate of the shrimp fishery for the coming year, if any, will likely be determined Friday afternoon when the Northern Shrimp Section of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meets to review the 2019 Stock Assessment Update Report and updates from the section’s Summer Survey Work Group and the Northern Shrimp 2019 Summer Survey Results.

The meeting will be held by telephone and interested parties may listen to the proceedings by joining in the conference call or by signing in to a webinar to follow the meeting.

To no surprise, the news is not good for shrimp fishermen, or for Northern shrimp.

In 2018, ASMFC regulators extended an existing moratorium on commercial shrimp fishing through 2021. The three-year moratorium was established in response to continuing low numbers of shrimp in the water and to low levels of “recruitment,” a measure of the number of shrimp that survive long enough to enter the fishery.

According to the most recent stock assessment, in 2018 the northern shrimp resource in the Gulf of Maine was depleted, and the size of the spawning stock, shrimp old enough to reproduce, had remained “extremely low” since 2013.

The most recent analysis of 2019 data, prepared by the shrimp section’s technical committee last month, indicated no improvement. Indices measuring abundance — the weight of the entire shrimp population and spawning stock biomass, a measure of shrimp of reproductive age — were at the lowest levels since scientists began collecting data. The recruitment levels was the third lowest measured.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

NMFS closes herring Area 1A, catch limit nearly harvested

December 4, 2019 — The National Marine Fisheries Service has announced a temporary closure of herring Management Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) due the area reaching its catch threshold.

Starting last week, fishermen in the area can no longer attempt to fish for, possess, transfer, receive, land or sell more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip. In addition, all permitted dealers cannot acquire more than 2,000 pounds of herring that was acquired in a trip from Management Area 1A.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA Concludes 2019 Northeast Fall Ecosystem Monitoring

December 5, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries has wrapped up its 2019 Northeast fall ecosystem monitoring survey.

Researchers aboard the NOAA vessel Gordon Gunter sampled 117 stations along the U.S. East Coast.

Data collected during the cruise helps researchers understand and predict seasonal and yearly changes in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean ecosystem and its fisheries.

Due to weather conditions about 75 percent of the cruise objectives were accomplished, including complete coverage of the Mid-Atlantic and Southern New England regions, and 97 percent of Georges Bank.

There was reduced coverage in the northern survey area, including just 22 percent in the Gulf of Maine and no coverage of the Scotian Shelf.

Long-term sampling on the cruise includes the use of “bongo” net tows. The fine-mesh nets are attached to side-by-side aluminum rings. The nets get their name for resembling bongo drums when deployed.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Webinar to discuss state of northern shrimp in US Gulf of Maine

December 3, 2019 — A panel within the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is scheduled to hold a two-hour webinar beginning at 1 p.m. on Friday (Dec. 6) to discuss the state of northern shrimp in the New England region of the US, the Associated Press reports.

The shrimp fishery has been shut down since 2013, and is in the middle of a moratorium that is scheduled to last until 2021, the wire service noted. The webinar is expected to deliver a stock assessment but not recommend any drastic changes, because the shrimp population is still suffering, a problem blamed in particular on warming Gulf of Maine waters.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Studies: Warming waters, local conditions contribute to Maine’s lobster stock changes

December 3, 2019 — Two new studies published by University of Maine scientists point to the role of a warming ocean and local oceanographic differences in the rise and fall of lobster populations along the coast from southern New England to Atlantic Canada.

Maine’s lobster catch was valued at $484.5 million last year, according to the state Department of Marine Resources. It is the state’s largest fishery by far, accounting for 76% of the $637 million fishing industry — making the findings that much more significant.

One study suggests the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery may be entering a period of decline, as a  “cresting wave” of lobster abundance heads northward in response to the region’s changing climate.

Published in the scientific journal “Ecological Applications,” the study was led by Noah Oppenheim, who completed his research as a UMaine graduate student in 2016, with co-authors Richard Wahle, Damian Brady and Andrew Goode from UMaine’s School of Marine Sciences, and Andrew Pershing from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Panel to discuss future of New England shrimp business

December 2, 2019 — A regulatory panel that oversees New England’s shrimp fishing industry is scheduled to meet to discuss the industry’s future, which looks bleak.

The New England shrimp fishery, based mostly in Maine, has been shut down since 2013, and is in the middle of a fishing moratorium that is scheduled to last until 2021. The regulatory panel, which is an arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, is slated to meet Friday and could alter the terms of the shutdown.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Lobster Catch Headed for Decline, Not Crash, Scientists Say

December 2, 2019 — A pair of studies by Maine-based scientists suggest the U.S. lobster industry is headed for a period of decline, but likely not a crash.

Lobster fishermen have brought in record hauls this decade, a period in which Maine catches that previously rarely topped 70 million pounds (32 million kilograms) have routinely soared above 120 million pounds (54 million kilograms). The new studies, both published with University of Maine scientists as lead authors, show a fishery in which warming waters off Maine have changed the dynamics of the lobster population.

Noah Oppenheim, author of one of the studies, said his model projects the lobster catch in the Gulf of Maine “will return to previous historical levels.” That means tens of millions fewer pounds of lobster per year, but still enough lobsters to support a robust business and supply hungry seafood lovers.

Oppenheim and colleagues base their opinion on a finding that temperature and the number of young lobsters populating shallow coastal areas allow scientists to predict what lobster catches will look like in four to six years. They published their study in the scientific journal Ecological Applications.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New York Times