|
Fishermen have been under a moratorium on catching shrimp for
more than a decade because of low population levels that
scientists have attributed to climate change and warming oceans.
The harvesters were allowed to catch a small number of shrimp
this past winter as part of an industry-funded sampling and data
collection program.
The fishermen didn't catch much though, and recent changes allow
regulators to extend the moratorium for five years at a time
instead of just one, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
officials said Monday.
Regulators will meet in December to determine whether to extend
the moratorium, said Chelsea Tuohy, a fishery management plan
coordinator with the commission. Tuohy said it's possible
regulators will “consider another winter sampling program.”
However, the “continued poor condition of the northern shrimp
stock has resulted in uncertainties in the future status of” the
seafood, the commission said in documents earlier this year.
“Environmental conditions continue to be unfavorable for
northern shrimp in the Gulf of Maine,” the commission said.
Prior to the fishing moratorium, the New England shrimp fishing
industry was based largely in Maine. Fishermen from
Massachusetts and New Hampshire caught them as well. The
delicate, pink crustaceans were a winter delicacy in the
Northeast and elsewhere and they were one of the region's iconic
kinds of seafood along with lobsters, cod and scallops.
Maine fishermen sometimes caught more than 10 million pounds
(4,536 kilograms) of the shrimp per year as recently as the
early 2010s, but the catch cratered in 2013.
The regulatory commission approved new rules for the fishery
this past spring that “recognize the influence of environmental
conditions on stock productivity,” the commission said in a May
statement. The commission said it made the changes “in response
to the continued poor condition of the northern shrimp stock.”
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
|
|
