A multi-state fisheries commission will consider whether the Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery should continue to be open to anyone who asks for a license.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission restricts the impact of fishing on northern shrimp in the Gulf of Maine by setting a cap on the total amount of shrimp that can be harvested by licensed fishermen from the three gulf states — Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. This past winter, there was no shrimp fishing in the gulf because regulators determined that the stock of shrimp in the gulf was so low that the total allowable catch should be zero.
The commission indicated last week that it may amend its fishery management plan to establish a limited entry program for the fishery, which would set a cap on the number of shrimp licenses in the three states. Marin Hawk, the commission’s management coordinator for the species, indicated Wednesday in an email that developing and implementing such a program could take between six months and two years.
From 2004 through 2013, there has been an average total in the three states of 225 vessels licensed for the northern shrimp fishery, according to commission statistics. During that time, 2006 had the lowest number of licensed boats with 144, and 2011 had the highest number with 342. The vast majority of those vessels each year are boats registered in Maine, while generally between 15 and 30 have been registered in Massachusetts or New Hampshire.
Landings in Maine of northern shrimp have varied greatly over the past 50 years, according to statistics compiled by the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Annual shrimp landings totals for the state have fluctuated back and forth between a few hundred thousand pounds and tens of millions of pounds. For example, more than 12 million pounds of shrimp were caught by Maine vessels in 2010 but three years later, in 2013, a little more than half a million pounds were landed in Maine.
Hawk said that whether the commission might create a limited entry program and still keep a total allowable catch limit, or whether it may replace the catch limit with a license limit, is one option likely to be considered during the draft amendment process.
Regardless of how the fishery is regulated, it remains to be seen whether the gulf’s shrimp population will rebound enough to allow fishing to resume. In a statement released last week, the commission said “the northern shrimp stock is at very low levels, and there is significant uncertainty about when the stock might recover.”
Many scientists and regulators have indicated that the decline of shrimp stocks in the Gulf of Maine most likely has been caused by an increase in ocean water temperatures.
Fishery officials in the three states have continued to conduct surveys this year in the gulf to determine the relative health of its shrimp stocks, but the results of those surveys have not yet been tallied, Hawk said. The commission plans to schedule a meeting for sometime this fall at which shrimp fishery officials will discuss the surveys and possible management measures.
