Saving Seafood

Fisheries regulators to deliver the shrimp season news next week

November 6, 2018 — The wait will soon be over for gourmets and harvesters who yearn to know whether Maine shrimp will be on their plates — or in their nets — this winter.

Next week, fisheries regulators will meet over two days in Portland to consider the health of the Northern Shrimp resource and changes to the Northern Shrimp Fishery Management Plan, Most important, they will also determine whether there will be a shrimp fishery in the Gulf of Maine this winter and if so, how large it will be.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Technical Advisory Panel and Regulatory Section will meet on Thursday, Nov. 15, and Friday, Nov. 16, respectively, at the Maine Historical Society at 489 Congress St. in Portland.

The panel will meet Thursday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. to review public comment on Draft Addendum I to the management plan, review the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment and prepare recommendations about both adoption of the draft addendum and the dates and landings quota, if any, for the 2019 shrimp fishing season for consideration by the Northern Shrimp Section.

On Friday, the section will meet from 9 a.m. to noon to consider the advisory panel’s recommendations, then take final action on the proposed changes and set specifications for the 2019 season.

The addendum would give each of the three states that have shrimp landings — primarily Maine but also New Hampshire and Massachusetts — the authority to allocate its shrimp landing quota set by the ASMFC between gear types in the event the fishery reopens. In the last years that there was a commercial fishery — there has been a moratorium on fishing since 2013 — trawlers caught about 90 percent of shrimp landed but there was a growing trap fishery.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

ASMFC Northern Shrimp Section and Advisory Panel to Meet November 15 & 16

November 1, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp  Advisory Panel (AP) and Section (Section) will meet on November 15 and 16, 2018, respectively, at the Maine Historical Society, Reading Room, 489 Congress Street, Portland, Maine. The AP will meet November 15 (1:30 – 4:30 p.m.) to review public comment on Draft Addendum I, review the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment, and formulate AP recommendations for the Section’s consideration on both the Draft Addendum and the 2019 fishery specifications. The Draft Addendum proposes providing states the authority to allocate their state-specific quota between gear types in the event the fishery reopens. The Section will meet November 16 (9 a.m. – Noon) to consider final action on Addendum I and set 2019 specifications. Meeting materials will be available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/meeting-archive by November 9th.
 
For more information, please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Hearings set on future of New England shrimp fishery

October 16, 2018 — Interstate fishing managers are holding a pair of public hearings about the future of the New England shrimp fishery, which continues to look bleak.

The shrimp fishery has been shut down since 2013 and the shrimp have been largely unavailable to the public. A new analysis of the shrimp stock says they remain depleted and threatened by warming waters.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is hosting the hearings on Nov. 5 in Augusta, Maine, and Nov. 6 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. An arm of the commission is set to vote on whether to reopen the fishery late in the month.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The State

Northern Shrimp Draft Addendum I Public Hearings Scheduled

October 16, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Maine and New Hampshire have scheduled their hearings to gather public input on Draft Addendum I to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Northern Shrimp. The details of those hearings follow.

Maine Department of Marine Resources

Monday, November 5, 2018 at 4 PM

Maine Department of Marine Resources

Conference Room #118

32 Blossom Lane

Augusta, Maine

Contact: Nicholas Popoff at 207.624.6554

New Hampshire Fish and Game

Tuesday, November 6, 2018 at 7 PM

Urban Forestry Center

45 Elwyn Road

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Contact: Doug Grout at 603.868.1095

The Draft Addendum proposes providing states the authority to allocate their state-specific quota between gear types in the event the fishery reopens. The Draft Addendum is available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/NShrimpDraftAddendumI_PublicComment.pdf and can also be accessed on the Commission website (www.asmfc.org ) under Public Input.

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on Draft Addendum I either by attending a public hearing or providing written comment. Public comment will be accepted until 5 PM on November 7, 2018 and should be forwarded to Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 1050 N. Highland Street, Suite 200A-N, Arlington, VA, 22201; 703.842.07401 (fax); or comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Northern Shrimp).

The Section and its Advisory Panel will be meeting November 15-16, 2018. At this meeting, the Section will consider final action on Addendum I and set 2019 specifications. Information regarding the date and location of the November meeting will be provided, when available, in a subsequent press release.

For more information, please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740

New England Shrimp Population Still Depleted, Board Says

October 11, 2018 — A regulatory board says New England’s shrimp population remains depleted years after the fishery for the species was shut down.

Fishermen in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts used to harvest Northern shrimp in the winter, but regulators shut the fishery down in 2013 amid concerns about low population and warming waters.

An arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says it has reviewed a new assessment of the shrimp population that says there are far fewer of the crustaceans off of New England than there used to be. The commission says the rising temperatures of the Gulf of Maine are a threat to the shrimp.

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

Northern shrimp surveys point to another year of moratorium

October 10, 2018 — The shrimp section of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission met in Portland, Maine, last week and voted to accept the 2018 benchmark assessment for northern shrimp — a report that shows a bleak future for the fishery.

The assessment indicates the northern shrimp population remains severely depleted, spawning stock biomass remains at the same low levels that have kept the fishery shuttered since the 2013 season. The assessment also recorded historically low recruitment of new shrimp into the fishery.

“Warmer water temperatures are generally associated with lower recruitment indices and poorer survival during the first year of life,” the section said in a statement. “Ocean temperatures in the western Gulf of Maine shrimp habitat have increased over the past decade, and temperature is predicted to continue rising as a result of climate change. This suggests an increasingly inhospitable environment for northern shrimp in the Gulf of Maine.”

The decision on whether or not to close the fishery for the sixth year straight will be made during a Nov. 15-16 commission shrimp managers’ meeting with the advisory panel to discuss the 2019 season.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Mainers grapple with risk that a shrimp season this year could be the last one

October 5, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — Scientists and policymakers gathered Thursday in Portland to weigh their desire for a 2018 Maine shrimp season — the first in five years — against the very real possibility that allowing shrimp to be harvested this year could leave the species beyond the point of return.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission presented a draft of its Northern Shrimp 2018 Stock Assessment Report, which those assembled at the Maine Historical Society heard with resignation but not surprise.

The northern (Maine) shrimp stock is depleted and the biomass is at an all-time low due to high fishery removals and a less favorable environment, according to the draft.

The mortality rate in 2011-2012, the last years with shrimp seasons — was very high, and the number of juvenile shrimp has remained “unusually low” since 2010.

Furthermore, the environment in the Gulf of Maine is in flux, Margaret Hunter of the Maine Department of Marine Resources and chairwoman of the assessment subcommittee, said Thursday.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

Lack of stock growth points to Gulf of Maine shrimp closure

October 3, 2018 — Nothing significant has changed for the Gulf of Maine’s imperiled northern shrimp stock in the past five years, as the fishery continues to be haunted by historically low abundance and biomass numbers that just refuse to improve.

The fishery’s recent past may indeed be prologue, as fishery managers from the shrimp section of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission get ready to meet Thursday to review and make recommendations on the most recent benchmark assessment of the stock, as well as a peer-review report on the assessment.

The meeting, set for Portland, Maine, is one of the final steps before the ASMFC decides in November whether to reopen the fishery for the 2019 season.

The early returns point to another closure.

Megan Ware, an ASMFC fishery management plans coordinator, said the 2018 stock assessment offers the same dismal assessment of the northern shrimp stock as every assessment since the 2013 assessment that instigated the past five closures.

“The trends are similar,” Ware told the Gloucester Daily Times last month. “We’re still seeing the low trends that we’ve seen in the past five years.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

ASMFC Northern Shrimp Section to Meet October 4th to Review Benchmark Assessment Results and Consider Draft Addendum I for Public Comment

September 27, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section (Section) will meet on October 4, 2018 at the Maine Historical Society, 2nd Floor Reading Room, 489 Congress Street, Portland, Maine. The Section will review the findings of the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report, and consider its approval for management use. The Section will also review Draft Addendum I and consider approving the document for public comment. This Draft Addendum considers providing states the authority to allocate their state-specific quota between gear types in the event the fishery reopens.
 
In November 2018, the Northern Shrimp Advisory Panel (AP) will meet to review the Benchmark Stock Assessment and provide recommendations on the 2019 fishery specifications. In addition, the AP will review public comment on Draft Addendum I and provide recommendations on its preferred management alternative. Following the AP meeting, the Section will meet to review the AP’s recommendations, take final action on Addendum I, and set 2019 specifications. Information regarding the date and location of the November meeting will be provided, when available, in a subsequent press release.
 
The October 4th meeting is open to the public; the draft agenda can be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/NShrimpSectionAgenda_Oct2018.pdf. For more information, please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740

Regulators weigh health of shrimp fishery

September 7, 2018 — Fishery managers will move closer to deciding the fate of the Gulf of Maine’s northern shrimp fishery when they meet in October to review the latest assessment of the imperiled stock.

The review is one of the final steps leading to a decision whether to reopen the fishery to commercial fishing for the 2019 season for the first time in six seasons.

It does not look good.

The popular winter fishery has been shuttered since the beginning of the 2014 season to all but research-related shrimping because of historically low abundance and biomass numbers that reflect a stock in free fall.

The 2017 benchmark assessment — which led regulators to close the fishery for the 2018 season — showed no signs of improvement from previous years and regulators seem to expect the same outcome from the 2018 stock assessment.

“The trends are similar,” Megan Ware, a fishery management plan coordinator with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which regulates the fishery, said Thursday. “We’re still seeing the low trends that we’ve seen in the past five years.”

The 2017 stock status report made for sobering reading.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times