November 15, 2021 — An oversight board is slated to make a decision next month on whether to allow shrimp fishing off New England this winter.
The fishery, based mostly in Maine, has been shut down since 2013. An arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is slated to make a decision about whether to allow a season this winter at a meeting on Dec. 17.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Bangor Daily News
October 14, 2021 — Maine’s shrimp fishery has been closed for nearly a decade since the stock’s collapse in 2013. Scientists are now saying a species of squid that came into the Gulf of Maine during a historic ocean heatwave the year before may have been a “major player” in the shrimp’s downturn.
In 2012, the Gulf of Maine experienced some of its warmest temperatures in decades. Within a couple of years, the cold-water-loving northern shrimp had rapidly declined and the fishery, a small but valued source of income for fishermen in the offseason, closed.
Anne Richards, a biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and Margaret Hunter, a biologist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources, studied the collapse and found that it coincided with an influx of longfin squid, a major shrimp predator.
The squid is a “voracious and opportunistic” predator that Richards and Hunter believe expanded in the gulf during the heatwave at the same time the shrimp population was struggling because of warmer water temperatures.
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald
October 12, 2021 — As Hurricane Ida plowed into the U.S. state of Louisiana and on to the Northeast last month, another storm surge of sorts swept through seafood markets, a brutal putdown to the local seafood industry’s slow pandemic recovery.
With heavy damage to local fleets, hard-hit Lafourche and Terrebonne parish bayou communities were cut off from power through the end of September, hobbling efforts to repair docks and bring back ice and shrimp packing.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
October 7, 2021 — It is almost certain that Maine shrimp will not be on any menus, or in markets this year.
The Maine shrimp (pandalus borealis — also known as northern shrimp and pink shrimp) had its last commercial season in Maine in 2013.
Back then, dealers paid fishermen an average of $1.81 a pound. But since then, the fishery has been closed, aside from a few years of limited catch for research purposes, with very small amounts of pricy shrimp making it to markets. Shrimp thrives in cold water. Warming waters, have made life hard on the species.
In 1962, shrimp was 15 cents per pound at the dock. By 1995, it was worth 90 cents and valued at $10.67 million, according to Maine Department of Marine Resources data. Marshall Alexander, 75, who works out of Portland, has been a commercial fisherman for six decades. Back in the day, Marshall caught a lot of shrimp on his boat, the De Dee Mae II.
“I used to get three-fourths of my pay catching shrimp,” Alexander says. “I was very good at it… I hate to say it. I figured out where they go.” Alexander feels there are shrimp populations out there, waiting to be caught. “I hope we have a season,” he adds.
October 1, 2021 — Scientists think they’ve found the chief culprit in the collapse of Maine’s prized shrimp fishery. They’re pointing the finger at a voracious species of squid that rode in on warming waters almost ten years ago.
Maine shrimp were long a regional delicacy fishermen and diners alike looked forward to each fall, with 10 million pounds and more harvested annually earlier in this century. While they’re small compared to other commercially-harvested shrimp, fans say they are sweeter too.
But in 2012, their population collapsed, federal regulators closed the fishery, and they haven’t recovered since.
Their latin name is Pandalus borealis, which gives a nod to their preference for cold arctic waters. Maine was always at the southern edge of their range, and the crash coincided with an extreme marine heat wave that warmed the Gulf of Maine’s waters to the highest temperatures since the 1950s.
But some thought there had to be more to the shrimp’s disappearance than just heat-sensitivity.
“After I saw this I remembered a fisherman saying to me ‘it’s the damn squid.’ He was saying there had been squid all over the place that spring,” Richards said.
September 20, 2021 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
It has been seven years since expansion of the northern end of the Oculina Bank Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC) was approved by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Designed to provide additional protection for the rare, slow growing, deepwater Oculina coral found off the central east coast of Florida, the expansion also included historic fishing grounds for the economically important rock shrimp fishery, shutting off access along the eastern boundary. The initial Oculina Coral HAPC, established in 1984, was the first deepwater coral protected area in the U. S., and its boundaries were developed in cooperation with the rock shrimp industry. Vessel Monitoring Systems have been in place since 2003 for the fishery. Following expansion of the Coral HAPC in 2014, the Council assured rock shrimp fishermen that the area would be reviewed to determine if the historic trawling areas could be reopened. During its quarterly meeting this week, members of the Council voted to approve Coral Amendment 10 to establish the rock shrimp fishery access area. The amendment must be approved by the Secretary of Commerce before the measures are implemented.
The decision to reopen the fishery access area, a narrow strip along the eastern edge of the Coral HAPC measuring approximately 22-square miles, was not without controversy. Over the years, the Oculina Bank has suffered extensive habitat damage due to mobile fishing gear (trawls and dredges) and anchoring. Council members considered recommendations from its advisory panels and received public comment both in support of and against the rock shrimp fishery access area.
Letters in support of the fishery access area included those from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, fishing industry leaders, and a former Council member. Coral biologists, scientists, and environmental groups were among those who expressed concerns that reopening the trawling area could damage existing coral habitat, noting the negative impacts of sediment from trawling activities. “We’ve heard from both sides on this issue and sincerely appreciate all of the letters and public comment received,” said Council Chair, Mel Bell. “After exploring options, including additional mapping and bottom surveys, we felt it important to move forward with this amendment.” If approved by the Secretary, the new regulations would become effective in 2022.
Red Snapper
Discussion of Red Snapper management continued to focus on the challenge of dealing with the increasing number of fish that are released throughout the year as the stock continues to rebuild, and the estimated number of released fish that don’t survive. In June 2021, the Council received the results of the most recent stock assessment for Red Snapper, which indicated that the stock is not yet rebuilt and experiencing overfishing. According to the stock assessment, released fish account for 90% of the fishing mortality for Red Snapper in the South Atlantic.
After receiving a report from its Scientific and Statistical Committee at this week’s meeting, the Council agreed to immediately look at actions to help reduce the number Red Snapper killed by discarding. Measures to be considered include gear modifications (single hook rigs, larger hooks, leader modifications, natural bait prohibition), consideration of a slot limit, increased outreach on best fishing practices, and data collection through the Council’s Citizen Science Project, SAFMC Release. The Council also requested a Research Track stock assessment be conducted for Red Snapper at the next available opportunity. Council members acknowledged the need to consider the multi-species snapper grouper fishery as a whole and will form a work group to lead a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) approach to reduce discards and increase landed yield across the entire snapper grouper fishery.
As required, the Council will also begin an amendment to the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan to revise management parameters for Red Snapper based on the latest stock assessment and recommendations from its Scientific and Statistical Committee. The amendment will incorporate the results of the MSE project and consider additional actions for the snapper grouper fishery to address widespread fishery issues such as discard losses. The Council will receive input from its Snapper Grouper Advisory Panel and continue work during its December 2021 meeting.
September 13, 2021 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is asking wild-catch U.S. shrimp producers to bid on 229,800 cases of shrimp under its Section 32 program.
Bids are due by 20 September, and the accepted bids will be announced by midnight on 28 September, the agency said in a notice.
Read the full story at Seafood Source
August 31, 2021 — Blasting onshore at the end of August, Hurricane Ida sent its immense storm surge coursing through coastal areas of the U.S. state of Louisiana, with winds reportedly gusting up to 172 miles per hour.
After landing at near-category 5 hurricane strength, Ida passed between Galliano and Houma, Louisiana, sustaining 130 mph winds. Through Sunday, 29 August.
August 18, 2021 — A man in the U.S. state of Rhode Island has been accused of bilking nearly USD 1 million (EUR 855,000) from major broadliners in the U.S. by fraudulently purchasing seafood from them.
Paul Diogenes, also known as Paul Dejullio, created a fictitious catering company – LePage Catering – in order to obtain credit from US Foods, Performance Food Group, and other distributors to purchase more than USD 831,700 (EUR 711,000) in product. Diogenes bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of lobster, sea bass, shrimp, scallops, filet, ribeye steak, and wild boar, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island.
August 17, 2021 — Mexican officials recently met with their U.S. counterparts in Washington D.C. to formally request a lifting of the U.S. embargo on Mexican wild-caught shrimp.
In April 2021, the U.S. State Department withdrew Mexico’s certification under Section 609 of Public Law 101-162, barring Mexico from exporting any of its wild-caught shrimp to the United States. In a statement at the time, the State Department said Mexico’s efforts to protect sea turtles were “no longer comparable to that of the United States.”