Commission likely to keep Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery closed
A board of the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is set to decide Thursday whether fishing will be allowed this year. A committee of scientists has advised the board it’s not a good idea, with temperatures off New England inhospitable to the shrimp. Spencer Fuller, a shrimp and lobster buyer with Cozy Harbor Seafood in Portland, said his company was once the largest processor of Maine shrimp in the country, and it has suffered. He said that he is prepared for another year of closure, but that it will send residual troubles through Maine’s seafood industry. The commission is also working on a plan for how to manage the fishery if or when reopening happens, Appelman said “If the fishery opens back up again, which we hope it does, we can’t have a free-for-all on all these shrimp,” he said. “This is how to make sure the pressure on this weak population isn’t too much for it to handle right off the bat.” Read the story here 08:05
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