November 10, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — New England’s shuttered shrimp fishery will not be allowed to reopen this winter.
An arm of the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decided on Thursday that it will keep the fishery closed because of concerns about poor reproduction in a warming ocean.
The fishery has been shut down since 2013. It was mostly based in Maine when it was open, though some fishermen brought the shrimp ashore in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
October 28th, 2016 — The Gulf of Maine has been closed to shrimping for the past three seasons and it now appears regulators will continue the shutdown throughout the upcoming 2017 season.
When the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission’s shrimp section convenes Nov. 10 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, members will be greeted with a recommendation from its northern shrimp technical committee that the closure extend through a fourth consecutive season.
“Given the continued poor condition of the resource and poor prospects for the near future, the NSTC recommends that the Northern Shrimp Section extend the moratorium through 2017,” the technical committee wrote in the summary of its 2016 Gulf of Maine northern shrimp stock assessment.
According to the assessment, not much has changed since the ASMFC closed the shrimp fishery following the 2013 season in which harvesters landed only 55 percent (346 metric tons) of the total allowable catch of 625 metric tons set by ASMFC for that season.
October 27, 2016 — The following was released by the ASMFC:
Arlington, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section (Section) and Advisory Panel will meet on November 10, 2016 in Urban Forestry Center, 45 Elwyn Road, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; 603.431.6774. The Advisory Panel will meet in the morning (10-11:30 a.m.) to review the 2016 Stock Status Report and Technical Committee recommendations, and formulate recommendations to the Section for the 2017 fishing season. The Section will meet in the afternoon (1-3 p.m.) to set 2017 specifications after reviewing the 2016 Stock Status Report, as well as the recommendations from the Technical Committee and Advisory Panel.
For the past three fishing seasons (2014-2016), based on the status of the resource, which is considered at record low levels and experiencing poor recruitment since 2012, a moratorium has been in place for the Gulf of Maine northern shrimp fishery.
Both meetings are open to the public. The draft agendas for the meetings can be found athttp://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/NoShrimp_Section_AP_Nov2016.pdf
October 20, 2016 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission will decide in November whether the Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery, which has been closed for the previous three seasons, will remain closed for the 2017 season.
The commission is scheduled to meet Nov. 10 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, first to review the most recent stock status report for northern shrimp and technical recommendations from the shrimp advisory panel. It will then set the specifications for the upcoming season.
Tina Berger, ASMFC spokeswoman, said the 2016 status report has not been finalized, but said she would be surprised if the stock status report revealed anything resembling an extraordinary comeback for the species.
“I haven’t seen the report, but I would be surprised if there was a season,” Berger said. “If there is one, it would probably be a very small one. But again, I haven’t seen the report.”
The stock status reports dating back to 2012 reveal a species in free fall, with record low levels of abundance and biomass and poor recruitment since 2012. Those assessments showed problems with overfishing, warming water temperatures and a dwindling number of spawning females.
The dire state of the fishery and the resulting closures also have given rise to a discussion among New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts about future fishery management options for the beleaguered fishery — including limiting access to what historically has been an open fishery.
Those discussions bogged down last year, and the ASMFC halted further development of the draft amendment addressing access to the collapsed fishery.
Berger said the states met again this summer to try to iron out differences, but came no closer to finding the common ground necessary to draft a workable amendment with limited entry at its core.
“It’s still in the development stages,” Berger said. “They figured that, given the state of the stock, there really was no reason to rush it at this point given the status of the stock.”
Maine harvesters dominated the fishery the last time it was open in 2013. Of the 207 vessels permitted to shrimp in the Gulf of Maine, 180 had hailing ports in Maine, while Massachusetts and New Hampshire each had 13. One vessel landed its shrimp in both Maine and New Hampshire.
Maine shrimpers in 2013 accounted for 83 percent, or 255.5 metric tons, of the total 307 metric tons of shrimp landed — which represented only 50.8 percent of the allowable catch and was the lowest seasonal harvest since the fishery was closed altogether in 1978.
New Hampshire was next with 10 percent (31.3 metric tons) and Massachusetts was third with 7 percent (20.3 metric tons).
This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.
October 19, 2016 — The Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission will decide in November whether the Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery, which has been closed for the previous three seasons, will remain closed for the 2017 season.
The commission is scheduled to meet Nov. 10 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, first to review the most recent stock status report for northern shrimp and technical recommendations from the shrimp advisory panel. It will then set the specifications for the upcoming season.
Tina Berger, ASMFC spokeswoman, said the 2016 status report has not been finalized, but said she would be surprised if the stock status report revealed anything resembling an extraordinary comeback for the species.
“I haven’t seen the report, but I would be surprised if there was a season,” Berger said. “If there is one, it would probably be a very small one. But again, I haven’t seen the report.”
The stock status reports dating back to 2012 reveal a species in free fall, with record low levels of abundance and biomass and poor recruitment since 2012. Those assessments showed problems with overfishing, warming water temperatures and a dwindling number of spawning females.
The dire state of the fishery and the resulting closures also have given rise to a discussion among New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts about future fishery management options for the beleaguered fishery — including limiting access to what historically has been an open fishery.
October 17th, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Comission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section (Section) and Advisory Panel will meet on November 10, 2016 in Urban Forestry Center, 45 Elwyn Road, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; 603.431.6774. The Advisory Panel will meet in the morning (10-11:30 a.m.) to review the 2016 Stock Status Report and Technical Committee recommendations, and formulate recommendations to the Section for the 2017 fishing season. The Section will meet in the afternoon (1-3 p.m.) to set 2017 specifications after reviewing the 2016 Stock Status Report, as well as the recommendations from the Technical Committee and Advisory Panel.
For the past three fishing seasons (2014-2016), based on the status of the resource, which is considered at record low levels and experiencing poor recruitment since 2012, a moratorium has been in place for the Gulf of Maine northern shrimp fishery.
Both meetings are open to the public. The draft agendas for the meetings can be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/NoShrimp_Section_AP_Nov2016.pdf. For more information, please contact Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mappelman@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.
October 11th, 2016 — Dozens of commercial fishing boats were once docked along the New Hampshire coastline and trawled through the Gulf of Maine to drag in thousands of pounds of cod.
Today, only about five commercial ground fishermen remain active in New Hampshire. And as they continue to struggle with strict regulations on cod and other species of groundfish, many question the future of groundfishing in the Granite State.
One active ground fisherman, Neil Pike, said “there ain’t one.” He lives in Seabrook and fishes out of Hampton Harbor where he said there used to be 13 other fishing vessels docked next to his. Now, he said there are three and he owns two of them.
“There is no future,” Pike added as he looked out the window of his harborside home where his boats are docked.
Jamie Hayward, 42, a gillnetter who fishes out of Portsmouth, said he once had six or seven crew members and brought in more than twice the amount of income he is making today. Strict cod catch limits and added costs from the federal government, he said, forced him to shrink his business and take up fishing for lobster part-time to keep his business alive.
“There’s a few of us that are surviving on a lot less than what we generated (before),” Hayward said. “There aren’t a lot of people that are catching fish and making money. It’s just not happening.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the nation’s fisheries, cut cod quotas for ground fishermen by approximately 95 percent in the Gulf of Maine over the course of a few years leading up to this fishing year. NOAA researchers say cod stocks are dangerously low and require the restrictions to help them bounce back.
NOAA increased Gulf of Maine cod allocations by 30 percent this year, but fishermen say it is not nearly enough. The number of ground fishermen dropped from nine last year. Dan Salerno, who manages the fishing sector that includes New Hampshire, said the exact number of ground fishermen today is hard to pin down as people change their status throughout the year. Some are waiting to fish their quota until the end of the year and are remaining inactive until then.
September 29th, 2016 — Herring fishing off part of the New England coast will be shut down for most of October.
The closure begins Sunday and lasts until Oct. 29. It is the product of a spawning forecasting method that interstate regulators approved earlier this year.
Regulators say an analysis of samples necessitates a closure of the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area for most of October. The area stretches from the north side of Cape Cod to southern Maine.
Vessels will not be allowed to possess Atlantic herring caught in the area during the closure.
The herring fishery is a key source of bait fish as well as food. The New England fishery struggled with low supply this summer, which resulted in a shortage of bait for some lobster fishermen.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Portland Press Herald
September 27, 2016 — MADBURY, NH — A researcher at the University of New Hampshire hopes to increase local food production through an integrated land-based aquaculture and hydroponic plant production system.
Todd Guerdat, an assistant professor of agricultural engineering, is leading a series of studies at Kingman Research Farm in Madbury.
He and others are taking waste nutrients from fish and using them for plants.
In three greenhouses, they are trying to determine if higher protein diets are more beneficial for plant production.
“The goal is to use all the nutrients from the feed, without having to supplement anything,” Guerdat said.
Researchers are using tilapia because they are efficient, cheap and reliable, but researchers hope is to start using cold water fish such as striped bass.
Guerdat said that if they are successful, more seafood can be raised on the local level.
According to Guerdat, more than half of the world’s seafood is farmed and 90 percent of the seafood Americans eat is imported, resulting in an annual trade deficit of nearly $11 billion.
“We are food insecure when it comes to seafood,” Guerdat said. He said there are companies that are already implementing similar systems, including Victory Aquaponics in Londonderry.
September 27th, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
Under Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring, Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire. In 2016, the Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section approved a one-year pilot of a new forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal stages III-V, to trigger a spawning closure.
Sampling in the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area (Figure 1) began on August 8, 2016; nine samples totaling 654 female herring were collected to evaluate spawning condition. Based on the analysis of the samples, theMassachusetts/New Hampshire (MA/NH) spawning area will be closed starting 12:01 a.m. on October 2, 2016 extending through 11:59 p.m. on October 29, 2016.
Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land or possess Atlantic herring caught within the MA/NH spawning area during this time and must have all fishing gear stowed when transiting the area. Due to landing day restrictions in Trimester 3 (October 1-December 31) vessels will not be allowed to land prior to the onset of the MA/NH spawning closure. Therefore, if a vessel harvests herring from the MA/NH spawning area on October 1, it will be in violation of the Atlantic Herring FMP starting on October 2 at 12:01 a.m. (when the MA/NH spawning closure takes effect). The Eastern Maine spawning area will be open to the directed Atlantic herring fishery at the start of Trimester 3. For more information on landing day restrictions in Trimester 3, see the ASFMC memo released on September 21, 2016.
An incidental bycatch allowance of up to 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip per calendar day applies to vessels in non-directed fisheries that are fishing within the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area.
For more information, please contact Ashton Harp, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 or aharp@asmfc.org.