Shrimp Managers Eye Limited Entry

by Laurie Schreiber

“I don’t see a limited entry program going in place any time before 2015,” said another section member. The section considered several factors in setting the specifications for the 2013 fishery. These included: the northern shrimp stock is overfished and overfish; all abundance surveys are exhibiting a downward trend; and poor recruitment (shrimp entering into the fishery) in 2010 and 2011. © Photo by Sam Murfitt

HALLOWELL – In December 2012, interstate regulators set aside the idea of a moratorium on shrimp fishing for the 2013 fishing season. But the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) imposed drastic cuts on the catch quota for shrimp fishermen in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

With the 2013 northern shrimp season in the Gulf of Maine now ended, as of April 12, the ASFMC’s Northern Shrimp Section is considering next steps for the fishery’s management, including improvement of the stock assessment and the development of new management tools, including a possible program to limit entry.

The section met via teleconference on June 13.

“How does the section want to move forward?” said section chairman Terry Stockwell, who is the director of external affairs for the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

If the section moves forward with limited entry, he said, “I think a face-to-face meeting to think through next steps would be good idea, in late summer or early fall. The devil’s in the details. Any limited entry program will take a tremendous amount of time for us to put together, particularly so it will work for each of the three states.”

“I don’t see a limited entry program going in place any time before 2015,” said another section member.

Last December, the section approved a total allowable catch (TAC) of 625 metric tons (mt) for 2013, representing a 72 percent reduction from the 2012 quota. Shrimp is fished by trawl and trap, with trawlers taking the lion’s share. The TAC was accordingly subdivided into a trawl fishery TAC of 539.02 mt, a trap fishery TAC of 80.54 mt, and a research set-aside of 5.44 mt. The section also specified the fishery would close when 85 percent of the TAC for each gear type was projected to be reached, with a four-day advance notice to be issued prior to the closure.

The trawl fishery began on Jan. 23, with two landing days (Monday and Wednesday) and no trip limit.

The trap fishery began Feb. 5, with six landing days and an 800-pound trip limit.

According to the ASMFC, the section considered several factors in setting the specifications for the 2013 fishery. These included: the northern shrimp stock is overfished and overfishing has been occurring for the last three years; all abundance surveys are exhibiting a downward trend (since 2007 biomass has steadily declined and is currently at its lowest level); and poor recruitment (shrimp entering into the fishery) in 2010 and 2011.

“Northern shrimp recruitment is related to both spawning biomass and ocean temperatures, with higher spawning biomass and colder temperatures producing stronger recruitment,” the ASMFC said. “Ocean temperatures in the western Gulf of Maine shrimp habitat have been increasing in recent years and have reached or approached unprecedented highs in the past three years. This suggests an increasingly inhospitable environment for northern shrimp and indicates the critical need for protecting spawning biomass.”

The latest ASMFC information says the stock remains overfished and overfishing is occurring.

However, because of low landings well into the 2013 season, the section extended the number of allowed landing days for trawlers, allowing them to land shrimp seven days a week. For trappers, the section removed the daily trip limit. A statement from the section said the actions were based not only on low landings but on “the desire to provide fishermen with greater flexibility and safer access to the resource.”

The fishery closed on April 12.

In the meantime, this spring, the section has begun work on the 2013 stock assessment for shrimp. The section held a data workshop in early May to review data sources.

Annual landings have fluctuated dramatically over the decades.

Maine landed 90 percent of the 2012 season total, New Hampshire followed with 6 percent and Massachusetts landed 3 percent. The proportional distribution among the states has shifted gradually since the 1980s, when Massachusetts accounted for about 30 percent of the catch.

Most northern shrimp fishing in the Gulf of Maine is conducted by otter trawls, although traps are also employed off the central Maine coast.

The 2013 northern shrimp season in the Gulf of Maine ended April 12.  Preliminary landings data from dealer reports, which do not include shrimp sold directly to retailers or consumers or kept for personal use, show the total catch landed by trawlers in the three states was 291.9 mt, with Maine accounting for 240.1 mt.

In addition, Maine trappers landed 14.6 mt. All together, trawler and trap landings total 306.5 mt. There were 123 Maine boats trawling, and 150 all together. There were 58 Maine boats trapping. The average price per pound was $1.83.

Among the goals of the 2013 assessment, it is intended to characterize the precision and accuracy of Gulf of Maine northern shrimp landings, discards, effort, and fishery-independent data used in the assessment; to develop models to estimate population parameters, including fishing mortality, biomass, and abundance; update biological reference points; characterize uncertainty of model estimates and biological or empirical reference points; develop recommendations for future research, data collection and assessment methodology.

In a May 15 memo to the section, the ASMFC’s Northern Shrimp Advisory Panel (AP) made recommendations for the 2013/2014 season. The AP recommended operating a “do-no-harm” fishery, which “takes into account the economic harm to the industry if there is not a season. Additionally, they recommended having more consecutive landings days and less days-out to bring some consistency to the industry….the limited fishing days this season made it difficult to catch anything and by the time the section decided to remove the days-out restriction, it was too late.”

The AP recommended enforcing reporting requirements for peddlers and other vessels that aren’t already reporting through the federal system.

The AP recommended a limited entry program based on historical participation in the fishery. “Simply put, limited entry would allow the industry to fish when they wanted to,” the AP said.

In May 2012, the AP discussed a proposal to establish a common pool with cooperative contributions that have individual or group allocations.

At the time, the AP said the program “has potential to be useful for northern shrimp and would like to see it developed as a potential option.”

Also important to establishing a limited entry system, said the AP, was resolving the question of latent licenses; specifically, the AP said, people without boats who have licenses should not be reissued licenses.

The AP memo notes, “Some AP members were against limited entry because they want the flexibility to have young members to gain access and get into the fishery. There was a discussion that there needs to be an entrance and exit strategy into and out of the fishery.”