Shrimp season in peril
A 15-state commission charged with fishery management has recommended that shrimp fishermen hang up their nets this season.
The Bangor Daily News reported that part of the Northern Shrimp Technical Committee of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will meet today and tomorrow in Portland to discuss, in part, a Nov. 21 recommendation to impose a moratorium on shrimp fishing for the 2013 season.
Last year, regulatory officials ended the season early after they found fishermen had exceeded the seasonal catch limit of 4.9 million metric tons by nearly 1 million metric tons, despite delaying the start of the shrimp season and imposing new catch limits.
The commission based its decision on the current shrimp stock, the biology of the species and the commission's goal of preserving stocks of certain fisheries and sustainable levels.
Last year, 256 shrimp boats operated out of the Gulf of Maine, the paper reported, and 225 of those were based in Maine.
The meeting today of the Northern Shrimp Advisory Panel will decide whether shrimpers will have a season this year and, if they do, what that season will look like.
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