PORTLAND, Maine - Three New England states say they have tapped fishermen to collect samples of a species of shrimp that was the source of a lucrative fishery before it started disappearing.
Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire have all picked fishermen to harvest Northern shrimp to help gather information about the stock. The fishermen will also be allowed to sell a limited number of the shrimp on the open market.
The program will employ ten trawlers and five trappers who will fish for eight weeks starting in the middle of this month.
Fishermen typically harvested more than 2,000 tons of the shrimp per year before the catch collapsed in 2013. The fishery has been shuttered by the government since. Scientists say warming waters off New England are inhospitable for the shrimp.
New England Fishers Picked to Aid Study of Declining Shrimp
Robert F. Bukaty
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Associated Press/file