December 10, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The meeting summary, motions and presentations from the December 6th webinar of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section can be found on the ASMFC website under Meeting Archives at http://www.asmfc.org/home/
December 5, 2019 — White shrimp are being pulled by the thousands from the water off the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
The water is not usually warm enough for them. But from this year forward, the shrimp are likely here to stay.
White shrimp, which thrive in the Gulf of Mexico and south Atlantic Ocean, typically only venture as far north as North Carolina in any significant numbers. A ghost of a shrimp market has existed off Virginia for only one or two weeks out of the year, but this year, it’s something different.
This fall, six watermen have been granted licenses to trawl for much larger quantities of the succulent 4-8 inch shrimp in an experimental fishery, which stretches three miles off the ocean side of Virginia Beach and three miles off the ocean side of the Eastern Shore, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission reports.
Read the full story from the Salisbury Daily Times at Delmarva Now
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.
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.
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.
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
November 20, 2019 — A year ago, fishery regulators that manage northern shrimp in the Gulf of Maine closed the fishery for the 2019 season because the imperiled stock remained a prisoner to its own meager abundance and unrelenting inability to improve biomass and recruitment.
The closure — the sixth since the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission’s initial shuttering following the 2013 season — was not a surprise. What was surprising was that the commission opted to forgo a single-season closure and instead closed the northern shrimp, or Pandalus borealis, fishery for three seasons ending in 2021.
Things were that bad. Apparently, they haven’t gotten any better in the past year.
The commission’s northern shrimp section is set to convene Dec. 6 via webinar to discuss the 2019 data update to its benchmark stock assessment for northern shrimp.
Based on preliminary findings, it is not expected to be a cheery meeting.
On Tuesday, the ASFMC said preliminary findings from the 2019 northern shrimp stock summer survey —and the Maine-New Hampshire survey — show no improvement in the health of the stock and provide no compelling reason for its northern shrimp section to recommend changes to the current management plan of closures.
November 15, 2019 — The following was released by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative:
On 23 October 2019, GSSI launched a 30-day public consultation on the Interim GSSI Benchmark Report for the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Shrimp Standard Scope Extension.
In early 2019, the ASC applied to extend the scope of its GSSI recognition to include its Shrimp Standard, having already obtained recognition for the scope of its Salmon Standard in August 2018.
The Independent Experts and the Benchmark Committee found the ASC Shrimp Standard V1.0 – March 2014 to be in alignment with all the GSSI Essential Components for Section C (Aquaculture). The Independent Experts and the Benchmark Committee also confirmed the Governance (Section A) and Operational Procedures (Section B) have been appropriately applied to the ASC Shrimp Standard V1.0 – March 2014.
GSSI now invites comments from all stakeholders on the recommendation of the Benchmark Committee to include the ASC Shrimp Standard in the GSSI scope of recognition for the ASC.
Following the public consultation, the Benchmark Committee, Independent Experts and ASC will process the feedback received. GSSI’s Benchmark Committee will then provide the GSSI Steering Board with a final recommendation on extending the scope of recognition. The Public Consultation feedback will be made publicly available after the GSSI Steering Board’s decision.
November 12, 2019 — The National Fisheries Institute is sharply criticizing an episode of the Dr. Oz Show linking shrimp and antibiotics, slave labor, and microplastics.
In the episode, which aired on 11 November, show host Mehmet Oz interviews Paul Greenberg, author of “American Catch” and “Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food,” about the safety and healthfulness of eating shrimp.
November 5, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
Friday December 6, 2019
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
The times listed are approximate; the order in which these items will be taken is subject to change; other items
may be added as necessary.
Webinar URL: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/651526893
Join the conference call:
Phone: 1-888-585-9008 followed by the Passcode: 635-498-111