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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 3
November 2007
Shrimpers seek control date for fishery
PORTSMOUTH, NH – A growing number of fishermen were planning to ask the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Northern Shrimp Section to adopt a control date for the shrimp fishery at the Nov. 14 meeting to set the 2008 season.
This latest effort to initiate a limited-entry program began in earnest over the summer when fisherman Terry Alexander asked shrimp section Chairman Ritchie White of New Hampshire to consider the idea. Alexander made this request on behalf of the Maine Fishermen’s Cooperative Association and Associated Fisheries of Maine.
White then tasked ASMFC’s shrimp advisory panel and the Northern Shrimp Technical Committee with commenting on “the technical requirements and merits of such a system.” The two groups were expected to report back to the section on Nov. 14.
The advisory panel, which Alexander chairs, was scheduled to meet Oct. 25 in Portland, ME just days after Commercial Fisheries News went to press.
Alexander said he expected the bulk of that meeting would be devoted to the limited-entry discussion.
Although previous attempts to garner a critical mass of support for limited entry have failed, Alexander said, “It’s a different era we live in now.”
Given the mounting number of groundfish restrictions, he said more and more shrimp fishermen were worried about too much excess effort being redirected into the shrimp fishery, which is one of the only remaining open-access fisheries in New England.
Limited entry process
Even though limited entry is the goal, Alexander said industry members recognized these things don’t happen overnight.
“All we’re asking for right now is the control date,” he said. “If the section sets the control date on Nov. 14, that gets the ball rolling. It gives us a point to start from.”
Alexander said support for limited entry is extremely high.
“I’ve not had one guy who goes shrimping tell me he’s against it,” he said. “We want the section to know we’re serious about this.”
According to White, the shrimp section has no preconceived notions about the proposal.
“I myself haven’t made up my mind yet,” he said. “We’re going to listen to the pros and cons and to what the technical committee and the advisers have to say. Where it goes from there, we don’t know yet.”
ASMFC’s Bob Beal said the process of putting a control date in place – if the section decides to go that route – would be different from the way the federal government goes about it.
In all likelihood, the section would need to initiate an addendum to the shrimp plan, he explained.
“There are ways we can do this, but we may have to go through the addendum process,” said Beal. “It would have to be a very transparent and public process.”
Same season?
As for the season itself, fishermen shouldn’t expect any surprises.
According to technical committee Chairman Maggie Hunter of the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), the technical committee was not intending to recommend any changes to the season length.
“Our recommendation to the section will be, ‘Stay the course,’” she said.
For 2007, the shrimp section adopted a 151-day season from Dec. 1, 2006 through April 30, 2007 with no days off, and Hunter said the resource should be able to sustain a similar season again this year.
“The biomass of fishable stock still looks very good,” she said.
However, the technical committee had concerns as a result of this summer’s stock assessment survey, which was conducted aboard the 65' Gloria Michelle.
The survey itself was much more successful than in 2006 and scientists were able to complete 43 stations. Last year, due to financial and technical problems, scientists only completed 29 stations – the bare minimum needed to run the assessment.
But the summer 2007 results were more disappointing.
“The survey indices this year were down,” said Hunter.
2006 poor, 2004 strong
Most troubling was the fact that scientists found very few shrimp from the 2006 year class and feared it might be as poor as the 2002 year class, which was dubbed “virtually nonexistent.”
Furthermore, the 2005 year class was showing up as “weak to moderate,” said Hunter.
On the up side, the 2004 year class was still “strong,” though not off-the-charts as it appeared last year.
Hunter said the technical committee might have overestimated the size of the 2004 year class last year – a problem likely stemming from only having sampled 29 stations and hitting “hot spots.”
“This year’s survey was more in line with the historical norm,” she said.
The 2003 year class, which was still hanging in there, appeared to be “moderate” in size.
The 2003 and 2004 year classes combined were expected to make up the vast majority of landings this year, with the 2004 year class “dominating the catch,” said Hunter.
Maine DMR Commissioner George Lapointe expressed some concern about the future, saying, “Given what we know, we should expect worse conditions next year and we should put people on notice about that.”
But as for this year, he said, “There’s nothing to warrant any changes.”
Last year
Landings for last winter’s fishery totaled 3,374 metric tons (mt) or roughly 7.4 million pounds, although the figure was preliminary and expected to increase 10%-15% following the addition of late data.
In comparison, landings for the 2006 fishery totaled 2,088 mt or roughly 4.6 million pounds.
Preliminary data indicated that 150 boats participated in the 2007 fishery – 15 from New Hampshire, three from Massachusetts, and 132 from Maine. Catch rates were extremely high, averaging 507 pounds per hour of towing.
Historically, catch rates have been more on the order of 200 pounds per hour, said Hunter.
At press time, the technical committee had yet to calculate an average price per pound, but it was low, and industry members were hopeful that the price situation would improve this winter.
“There should be a little more market around this year,” said Terry Alexander, “and I would hope there would be a little more money in it.”
With higher fuel prices, higher insurance costs, increasing gear costs, and other factors, Alexander said, “It’s costing us a lot of money to go shrimping these days.”
Nov. 14 meeting
ASMFC’s shrimp advisory panel was scheduled to meet Oct. 25 from 10 am to 2 pm at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute on Commercial Street in Portland.
The Northern Shrimp Section was scheduled to meet Nov. 14 from 10 am to 2 pm at the Portsmouth Public Library at 174 Parrott Ave. in Portsmouth.
For more information about either meeting or about shrimp in general, call ASMFC shrimp plan coordinator Brad Spear at (202) 289-6400 or e-mail him at <bspear@asmfc.org>.
Janice M. Plante
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