The northern shrimp-fishing industry has experienced boom times recently, with high prices, a robust stock and few regulations. Judging by the new restrictions for the upcoming shrimping season, these good times appear to be over.
On October 28, regulators with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission imposed new restrictions for the upcoming shrimping season, including halving the season’s total allowable catch to 2,000 metric tons. Also, the start of the northern shrimp-fishing season was pushed back into early 2012.
The commission’s Northern Shrimp Section also elected to use new regulatory powers granted this fall to try to slow down the season. Trawlers will only have three days a week for shrimping, and those who shrimp with traps will have a 1,000-pound daily landing limit per vessel.
The new restrictions are necessary, regulators say, to head off a possible future collapse in the stock. Simply put, there’s been too much fishing for northern shrimp in the Gulf of Maine to be sustainable, said Doug Grout, Shrimp Section Chairman for the commission and head of the Marine Division of New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.
“In the last couple of years, the prices for shrimp were higher than they’ve been in a long time, and participation [in the fishery] skyrocketed,” said Grout.
High participation and slow reporting of landings led to emergency early closures of the season for the past two years. This season, a new regulation will mandate weekly landings reports from shrimp dealers. In the past, Maine dealers who were not federally registered only needed to report once a year, said Grout.
“We haven’t even gotten all the landing reports from last year,” he said.
Even with the early closures, landings exceeded quota by 28 percent in the 2009-2010 season and 48 percent in the 2010-2011 season. Fishermen in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire caught some 6,000 metric tons of northern shrimp. That number alarms shrimp scientists, said Grout.
“Anytime our landings have gone over 6,000 metric tons, the resources have started to drop off,” he said.
It appears that overfishing isn’t the only threat to the shrimp, said Grout. Unusually warm water temperatures at the bottom of the Gulf of Maine have also stressed the population, leading to low numbers and slow growth.
While northern shrimp numbers have been high in recent years, the most recent assessment of the stock is grim. Assessors found few four-year-old shrimp, the age where they are likely to be harvested, and even fewer one-year-old shrimp. This means restrictions on the shrimping season most likely will be the norm for the next few years.
And more new restrictions may also be on the way. Regulators are beginning to sift through all available data on the industry to consider a regulation that would limit access to the fishery. At present, it is one of the last remaining open-access fisheries in the United States.
Shrimp fishermen have long advocated for restricting access to the fishery to shield those who rely on it for their income. These fishermen have been hit hard by the emergency early closures of the shrimping season, said Maggie Raymond, executive director of Associated Fisheries of Maine.
Shrimp fishermen have many questions about the science used to assess the stock, said Terry Alexander, a Harpswell fisherman who serves on an advisory committee for the commission. However, he says the move to consider limiting access is long overdue.
“We’ve needed a limited entry program for 10 years,” Alexander said.
But such a move would cut off a supplemental fishery for many Maine lobstermen, argued Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, in a letter to regulators before the new restrictions were announced.
No decision will be made anytime soon about limiting access, say commission officials. At the earliest, any move to restrict access would come in the shrimp season that follows this one. Michael Waine, a fishing management plan coordinator for the commission, said regulators are very aware that limiting access would profoundly affect many fishermen, and they want to take the time to make the right decision.
“It’s not a two-meeting process,” Waine said. “This is a big move.”
Northern shrimp regulators will meet three times during the upcoming shrimping season to evaluate the season’s landings and consider regulations for the future.