The New England shrimp fishery will open for a limited harvest this winter, for the first time in a decade.
Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts fishermen will be allowed to harvest 58,400 pounds of shrimp. The allowable catch is well below the 10 million pounds that fishermen were harvesting nearly 15 years ago.
But the Atlantic Marine States Fisheries Commission said an industry-funded sampling pilot could provide valuable research about the fishery in a warming Gulf of Maine.
Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association, said some fishermen have reported catching shrimp in lobster traps and groundfish nets.
"But there are other fishermen who are saying, we aren't seeing any significant numbers of shrimp. They're concerned that what we're going to see is exactly what the data is showing us, that there's not shrimp there," he said. "But we're not going to know until we put a net in the water."
Regulators with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said the northern shrimp stock has been at low biomass levels, even though the fishery has been closed for the last decade. And a recent sampling showed no improvement in recruitment or abundance.
Martens said most fishermen don't believe that the northern shrimp stock is abundant, but because the fishery has been closed for 10 years, they feel like they lack an accurate picture of what is going on in the Gulf of Maine.
The sampling pilot will run through March, or whenever the quota is reached. The three states will work together to set a start date and select participants. Martens said he's hopeful that fishermen, despite the risk, will want to participate.
"I've had an outpouring of hope from both the fishing community, and even more from the consumers," he said. "The loss of shrimp is really something that has been felt by so many in our communities, who just loved, loved those tiny little morsels."
