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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 37 Number 10
June 2010
Shrimp section closes 2010 season 24 days early
PORTSMOUTH, NH – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Northern Shrimp Section took emergency action during an April 30 telephone conference call to close the 2010 shrimp season on May 5 instead of May 29.
At the time, preliminary landings stood at a remarkable 4,956.6 metric tons (mt), equivalent to almost 11 million pounds, and the fishery still had over a month left to go. The Northern Shrimp Technical Committee (TC) said late dealer reports from March and April would further boost total landings.
During last fall’s season-setting meeting, the TC had recommended keeping 2010 landings below 4,902 mt to maintain a healthy stock status. The section set a Dec. 1, 2009-May 29, 2010 season, and few expected the recommended landings cap would be an issue. Poor prices and a lack of markets had kept landings at an abysmal 4.85 million pounds the previous season.
But this year proved to be different. More markets opened up. Catch rates were high. The price was steady in the 45-to-50-cent range. And the shrimp themselves, for the most part, were beautiful.
“The season has been a very good one,” said TC Chair Maggie Hunter of the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR). “More boats got into the fishery. We saw some new boats and we saw boats we hadn’t seen in a while.”
Increased activity
So far, said Hunter, Maine vessels accounted for roughly 92% of the landings, with trappers bringing in 23% of that total. A few Downeast Maine boats from ports such as Stonington and Southwest Harbor, which had given up shrimping in recent years, got back into the fishery, and the number of trappers increased as well.
The TC estimated that 14 boats were still fishing full-time in Maine at the end of April. Three were fishing part-time, and seven planned to join the fishery in May. The Massachusetts fishery had come to an end, but three boats were still fishing out of New Hampshire, said Hunter.
In Maine, fishing activity was highest in December, January, and February. Counts per pound ran in the 38-to-41 range for the trawl fleet and even lower for trappers, averaging in the low-to-mid 30s.
By April, however, the trap fishery was over and catch rates for the trawl fleet dropped off. Small shrimp began mixing in and counts per pound increased, averaging 55. Some of the shrimp reportedly were “mushy” and of poorer quality.
This decrease in quality was particularly troubling for Maine section member state Sen. Dennis Damon.
“I’m concerned about the size of the shrimp we’re getting now, and I’m concerned about future seasons,” he said.
Projections
The TC ran several landings projections for the section to consider during its telephone conference call and public hearing.
One scenario assumed that landings reported to date for December through February were complete, and that late landings for March and April would come in at 500 mt and 300 mt respectively. In this case, with no additional fishing in May, the recommended landing cap would be exceeded by 9%, the TC reported.
Under a different scenario, the TC assumed that landings for December through February were complete and that late landings from March and April would total 600 mt and 800 mt respectively. In this case, with no additional fishing in May, the recommended landings cap would be exceeded by 21%. The addition to this scenario of a May fishery in which landings totaled 500 mt would result in the recommended cap being exceeded by 32%, the TC figured.
Too cautious?
Following Hunter’s report, section Chairman Doug Grout of New Hampshire asked for public comment from those participating in the conference call.
Sensing the board’s leanings toward an early season closure, David Osier of the South Bristol Co-op in Maine said, “I don’t want to overfish. We just want to finish the season. I think it’s a shame to shut it down. We’ve been planning on this all winter.”
Osier said one boat had just come in with product in the low 40-count range, an improvement from past weeks.
“The size is getting better,” he said. “We’re catching a few small shrimp, but it’s being sold. There’s a market for it.”
Noting that boats were finding “miles and miles” of shrimp from Jeffreys Bank to Jeffreys Ledge, Osier said, “I don’t think we’re doing as much damage as you think. We’re being over-cautious here.”
Vincent Balzano, chair of the section’s shrimp advisory panel, said some fishermen were worried that ASMFC was now using the TC’s recommended landings cap as a firm total allowable catch (TAC) that shut down the fishery when reached.
“We don’t want to set a precedent of a hard TAC fishery,” he said.
DMR Commissioner and Maine section member George Lapointe said that wasn’t the case.
“We’re not managing this as a hard TAC fishery. We’re using the target set up by the TC as a guidepost.”
Massachusetts section member Paul Diodati agreed.
“We’re looking at other factors like the small shrimp,” he said. “We already know that young-of-the-year recruitment for next year is not great, and we still have boats that are rigging up to fish this year. I think we need to recognize all of these things.”
Limited access?
Maggie Raymond of Associated Fisheries of Maine said her members had mixed feelings about the proposed early closure.
“Associated Fisheries of Maine has a long history of involvement in the shrimp management process, so we understand and support rational conservation measures,” she said. “But many of our members were planning to fish in the month of May, so certainly this closure will cause significant economic hardship.”
According to Raymond, the hardship could have been avoided.
“We have advocated for many, many years for limited access in the shrimp fishery,” she said. “Limited access would solve a great deal of the problems we have right now with the ups and downs and the wide swings in the season length and target TACs.
“The reason why you are closing the fishery now is because of all the new entrants this season. We strongly urge the section and the states to get on with limited access in the shrimp fishery so the historical participants can have a stable fishery,” she concluded.
Unanimous vote
After listening to the testimony, Massachusetts section member Bill Adler said, “I feel bad for people who were planning to fish into May, but I’d rather shut it down here and give fishermen a fair amount of fishing next year.”
Lapointe said one of the comments he had received prior to the telephone conference call was that fishermen needed a few days to plan for an early closure.
“We’ve been talking about giving people five days to kind of clear the pipeline,” he said.
The section then voted unanimously to close the 2010 season at 11:59 pm on May 5.
The states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts also agreed to each hold a public hearing in mid-May in their own states to take any additional comments, even though the fishery would remain closed.
For more information, contact ASMFC shrimp plan coordinator Brad Spear at (202) 289-6400.
Janice M. Plante
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