PORTLAND, Maine — New England shrimp, long gone from the market as waters have warmed, will return to fishmongers in small quantities next year under a research fishing program.
The small pink crustaceans, also called Maine shrimp or northern shrimp, have long been beloved by seafood lovers during the winter. But the fishing industry has been under pressure for ten years moratorium on fishing for the shrimp due to concerns about low population levels, which scientists attribute to climate change and warming oceans.
That moratorium remains in effect because the shrimp population has failed to improve, according to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. But because the regulatory body said there is interest in collecting data on the shrimp, a fishing industry-funded winter sampling program for them will take place next winter.
The program will allow fishermen to catch up to 58,400 pounds (26,490 kilograms) of shrimp this winter. It’s a far cry from the early 2010s, when fishermen caught more than 10 million pounds (4.5 million kilograms) of shrimp a year. But the program will provide important data to better understand the status of the shrimp population while allowing for a small amount of fishing, the commission said.
“The sampling program is planned to run early in the new year, from mid/late January through March 2025. Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts are currently working together to finalize the logistics of the program, including its start date.” , said Chelsea Tuohy, a fisheries management plan coordinator at the commission, on Tuesday.
Fishermen long searched for the cold-water-loving shrimp in the Gulf of Maine, a body of water off the coast of New England that considerable heat in recent years. The commission said in a statement that recent science has found “no improvement in the stock status” for the shrimp. The commission has also described the Gulf of Maine as “an increasingly inhospitable environment” for the shrimp.