Maine suspends marine shrimp fishing for three more years
"No marine shrimp fishing until 2022", was the conclusion that follows a vote in The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, who has taken this position due to scarce resources in the coastal waters.
"Any level of fishing pressure that would increase mortality further would hinder any kind of stock rebuilding. The stock is so low, biomass is so low and recruitment is so down – the 2018 recruitment was $2 billion, and while that sounds like a lot, that’s even below the median", explained Tina Berger, representative of the commission.
Environmental changes are part of what is to blame for the decline in shrimp in Maine, with increasing ocean temperatures a central reason cited for the decline. According to the report, while levels of recruitment are of similar magnitudes to what once sustained the fishery, there has been a change in the dynamic that indicates young shrimp are either not growing or surviving in numbers that they did in the past.
Maine is the southernmost part of the shrimp’s historic range, and as the waters in the region warm the stock is likely to move north, according to Seafood Source magazine. The problem was first reported in 2014 when the same commission has decided to ban marine shrimp fishing. “Given that northern shrimp is at the southern limit of its range one may expect this species to be similarly affected by warming waters in the Gulf of Maine,” the report states. Regardless, the likelihood of the shrimp fishery returning, even after three years, is slim.
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