“Do No Harm” Shrimp Fishery Contemplated

by Laurie Schreiber

ELLSWORTH—The Department of Marine Resources (DMR) hosted meetings in Portland, Augusta, and Ellsworth, in March, on the prospect for a future shrimp fishery.

The fishery was halted three years ago due to poor showings in survey tows.

“What we’re trying to figure out now—given the uncertainty of the science, the trends we have, and the fact that the environment, not fishing, is what’s driving the decline—is could we have some sort of a do-no-harm fishery?” DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher asked about a dozen fishermen who appeared at the Ellsworth meeting.

“What’s a ‘do no harm’ fishery?” one man asked.

“It’s how many tons of shrimp can be taken without impacting the resource,” Stockwell replied.

“Right now,” Keliher added, “the science might say ‘do no harm’ is no fishery.”

The meetings stemmed from a commitment made by the state in September 2015 to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Northern Shrimp Section, in return for postponing development of Draft Amendment 3 to the interstate shrimp management plan.

The intent of the amendment was to address increased effort in the fishery through a variety of management options, including establishing state-by-state allocations for the fishery, and setting up a limited entry system. The Maine delegation objected to the limited-entry idea, said DMR Director of External Affairs Terry Stockwell, who is the DMR’s representative on the ASMFC.

“In that objection, we committed to meet with the industry and think about next steps for a reasonable management approach for when we do reopen the fishery,” Stockwell said. “Even if there’s an uptick” in the resource, “I don’t think the section will approve robust reentry into the fishery.”

If the ASMFC approves state-by-state allocations, Stockwell said, Maine, which represents about 90 percent of the fishery, will have to figure out how to sustainably fish the resource. The fishery was last open in 2013.

In 2011, fishermen harvested about 13 million pounds, far exceeding the total allowable catch (TAC) of 8.8 million pounds. For 2012, harvesters exceeded a lower TAC of 4.9 million pounds. In 2013, the TAC was 1.4 million pounds; harvesters landed about half that.

The ASMFC closed the fishery in 2014, and extended the closure through the 2015 and 2016 seasons, citing stock collapse due to overfishing in previous years, along with environmental factors.

In its announcement regarding the moratorium for the 2016 fishing season, the ASMFC said the 2015 stock status report indicated abundance and fishable biomass indices for 2012-2015 were the lowest on record for the 32-year time series.

“The stock has experienced failed recruitment for five consecutive years, including the three smallest year classes on record,” the release says.

According to the release, warming ocean temperature may be impacting the resource: “Recruitment of northern shrimp is related to both spawning biomass and ocean temperatures, with higher spawning biomass and colder temperatures producing stronger recruitment. Ocean temperatures in western Gulf of Maine shrimp habitat have increased over the past decade and reached unprecedented highs in 2011 and 2012. While 2014 and 2015 temperatures were cooler, temperatures are predicted to continue to rise as a result of climate change. This suggests an increasingly inhospitable environment for northern shrimp. The Northern Shrimp Technical Committee considers the stock to have collapsed with little prospect of recovery in the immediate future.”

Survey tows since then have found some shrimp, and results appear to be more robust this year.

Survey landings in the midcoast region are showing at least a bubble of shrimp, Stockwell said.

“There are some shrimp there,” he said.

According to the DMR, for the 2016 test tows and traps, four shrimp trawling vessels have been collecting samples in Eastern Maine, Midcoast Maine, Western Maine, and Massachusetts/New Hampshire, beginning in mid- to late January and fishing approximately once every two weeks, until the shrimp are no longer carrying eggs, perhaps near the end of March. Trawlers are allowed to land and sell up to 1,800 pounds of shrimp per trip.

In addition, two shrimp trapping vessels have been collecting samples in the midcoast Maine area, beginning Feb. 1. Trappers are allowed to fish up to 40 traps each, with a 600-pound weekly catch limit per vessel. Trapped shrimp catches may be sold.

Fishermen in Ellsworth had concerns about limited entry. They said they didn’t want to risk keeping young people from getting into the fishery.

Keliher agreed.

“I don’t want limited entry in any way that didn’t take into account entry on the other side,” he said. “However, if we have to do it, we need to think about what that system would look like, not for now, but for 10 to 15 years out,” Keliher said. That’s because in other instances, limited entry systems have resulted over the long-term in the complete exclusion of new entrants, he said.

About 500 fishermen hold licenses obtained before the 2011 control date, Stockwell said. In the last year of fishing, about half of the 500 had any landings. But the potential exists that all could dive in once the fishery is reopened, he said.

“So what can we do to scale the fishery, with the large number of licenses we have, so people can make any money?” he said.

Some said that limiting the number of fishermen is moot. Given the brevity of the season and the cost of rigging a boat—one man said it cost him $40,000—some fishermen said they doubted all of the outstanding licenses will become active.

“I don’t think a lot of new people will get into this,” said one man.

Keliher noted that establishing limited entry would mean going through the state legislature, which would mean such a system wouldn’t be in place until the 2018 fishing season. The system could deal with the question of latent licenses.

“It wouldn’t necessarily take away opportunity, but you could control it, until the fishery got up to X thousand pounds,” Keliher said.

Keliher said that, in the future, a swipe card system, which tracks landings in real time, will help keep the industry on track with the quota. Swipe cards are used in the elver fishery.

“If we get state-by-state allocations, we can monitor it in real time and shut the fishery down” immediately once the quota is reached, Keliher said.

Some suggestions from fishermen, for protecting the resource, included having a staggered season based on egg hatch; a size-sorting grate that would allow 2-year-olds to get by; and starting with perhaps one day a week of fishing, then scaling up as the resource recovers, with year-to-year and in-season adjustments as needed.

Keliher pointed out that bigger issue for the fishery is environmental change. That can be seen in Southern New England, he said, where the lobster fishery disappeared: “They transferred to the whelk fishery, and now the whelk fishery is gone,” he said.

“Do you think there’s any way we’ll have a shrimp season next February?” one man asked Keliher.

“I don’t know,” Keliher replied. “The things that are changing the discussion are really these comparisons with taking a hard-line approach with one fishery and then being very inconsistent with another fishery. Couple that with environmental changes and the uncertainties….The summer shrimp survey will still be the driving factor.”

The DMR next plans to convene an industry task force to help the agency shape steps forward that are supported by the industry, followed by a broader meeting of the industry, Stockwell said.