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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 5
January 2007
Shrimp everywhere; boats taking it slow in tentative market
KENNEBUNK, ME – Shrimp season began on Dec. 1 and was off to a slow start early in the month.
“Our first day of buying was Dec. 11,” said Spencer Fuller of Cozy Harbor Seafood Inc. in Portland.
Maine fishermen had reported seeing a lot of shrimp everywhere, said Fuller. Some guys were doing over 1,000 pounds an hour, with counts in the mid-50s in deep water, 65–80 fathoms, and in the mid-40s closer to shore.
“Cozy Harbor has two to three times more shrimp processing capability than we had last year,” said Fuller.
But, he cautioned, low worldwide shrimp prices, cheap warmwater shrimp, low prices for cooked/peeled northern shrimp out of Newfoundland, and a 20% duty to export to Europe would all make market conditions challenging for Maine shrimp.
The Portland Fish Exchange’s web site showed only one boat landing in early December with prices of 39 and 35 cents per pound. But the exchange was ready to handle the catch.
“We’ll hold a shrimp auction that night if a boat calls in to hail by noon on the same day,” said Pamela Chandler of the exchange.
In the Portland and southern Maine areas, some of the catch was going to local fish markets for the whole, headed, or peeled fresh market.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Northern Shrimp Section set a 151-day season based on a stock assessment that showed a huge abundance of shrimp. Some fishermen asked for an early season opening to try and recapture the Christmas market for fresh product.
Reports from Downeast areas were of little to no fishing activity yet. The South Bristol Fishermen’s Co-op reported none of its shrimp draggers had started and shrimp trappers were not expected to begin until mid-January.
Greg Middendorf of Atlantic Edge Lobster Company in Boothbay reported having one shrimper who was selling to the local, fresh picked market. And Cundy’s Harbor wharf Manager Lester Durant indicated that things in his area were just getting started.
“Today is our boats’ first day of shrimping,” said Durant on Dec. 11.
Boats out of the Yankee and Portsmouth Fishermen’s Co-ops in New Hampshire also were just starting.
Rosanne Mizzoni
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