Final numbers have yet to be tallied but upward of 30 Maine fishermen have applied for just seven slots available in a short, experimental shrimp season due to start in February.
The tasty, long-prized pink crustaceans have been off limits to local fishermen for a decade because of low population levels, which scientists attribute to climate change and warming waters in the Gulf of Maine.
But in December, the Maine Department of Marine Resources, in cooperation with the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission Northern Shrimp Board, announced it was seeking fishermen interested in participating in a special winter sampling research program to try and gauge the species’ health and population.
The limited program will only allow Maine shrimpers to catch up to 58,400 pounds. Before the moratorium, which began in 2013, fishermen regularly landed more than 10 million pounds in a season.
Maine DMR Marine Resource Management Coordinator Corrin Flora, who is overseeing the program, said she wasn’t sure how many fishermen would be interested or even still possess the correct nets, traps and gear after such a long layoff, and with such a small allowable catch.
“I’m surprised but also not surprised,” Flora said, “But it’s definitely more interest than we anticipated.”
Flora said fishermen willing to participate are taking a chance. There’s no guarantee they’ll catch any shrimp at all and there is no state or federal money available to help them recoup any losses. Plus, it’s been so long since there was a commercial shrimp industry in Maine, the price the shrimp will fetch at the dock is unknown.
The deadline for fishermen to apply was the end of Friday and Flora said she will spend next week sorting through the applications. To be considered, fishermen must be Maine residents, hold a valid commercial fishing license and have at least two years of shrimp-fishing experience. If more than enough applicants meet the requirements, Flora said her office will pick winners at random from the qualified pool.
Of the seven participants eventually chosen — four trawlers and three trappers — each will be assigned one of three geographic fishing regions: Kittery to Phippsburg, Phippsburg to Owls Head or east of Owls Head.
Flora said she has her work cut out for her with the anticipated February start looming. Besides poring over applications, Maine DMR is also finalizing shrimp fishing gear rules as well.
“We have a lot of details to work out,” Flora said. “We’ll see how it goes.”
