PORTLAND, Maine - Federal regulators are canceling the commercial fishing season for northern shrimp in the Gulf of Maine for a second straight year.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Northern Shrimp Section voted on Wednesday to cancel the upcoming season. The section closed this year's shrimp season for the first time in more than 30 years. A technical committee that advises the section recommended extending the moratorium.
A report by the committee says the "depleted condition of the resource and poor prospects for the near future'' warrant another closure. The report blames rising ocean temperature for the decline. Regulators say the fishery's estimated population fell by a factor of 14 from 2011 to 2013.
Some fishermen opposed closure because shrimp are a source of winter money.