Shrimp season off to blustery start

PORTLAND – Gale warnings kept some fishermen in port but the hardy ones didn’t let the wind and waves stop them from taking advantage of the start of the northern shrimp season this week in New England.

Strong wind gusts marked the beginning of the season Tuesday and continued Wednesday, but the wind was expected to die down Thursday.

“It’s a blowy day but they’re bound and determined that they’re going to get out there,” Dan Schick of the Maine Department of Marine Resources said Wednesday from his office in Boothbay Harbor.

The Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission lengthened this year’s season to 83 days, compared to 51 days last year. But it’s still less than half of a full 181-day season because of concerns about the shrimp fishery’s health.

Last year, the season got off to such a strong start that it shocked fishermen and scientists, along with processing companies that were overwhelmed as some boats hauled up shrimp at a rate of 1,000 pounds per hour.

On Tuesday, about 16 boats delivered 25,000 pounds of shrimp to the Portland Fish Exchange. As the weather improves, the number of boats will double and the landings will grow by next week, Holley said.

Maine typically accounts for about 85 percent of landings of shrimp, which thrive from Cape Cod to Mount Desert Island.

Fishermen in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts hauled in 2,627 tons of shrimp in 2000, which marked the shortest season since the 1970s.

Fishermen complained that their landings indicated the fishery was healthy enough to support a longer season. This year’s season runs from Tuesday through March 17. Another short season is scheduled for April 16-30.

The shrimp fishery is fickle because of the shrimp’s life cycle.

Shrimp start out as males that live on the ocean floor for their first two years. Then the male shrimp head offshore, where they mate with shrimp that have matured into females. The female shrimp then head inshore to deposit their eggs. That is when they are caught.

Making predictions about the fishery is difficult because it’s easy for the life cycle to be interrupted, and it’s a mystery as to exactly when and where the female shrimp will move inland, Schick said.

Maine regulators considered shutting down the fishery in recent years because of concerns about low numbers of juvenile shrimp.

But a survey last summer revealed larger-than-expected numbers of juvenile shrimp, easing concerns that the shrimp fishery will collapse.

Even if the landings are strong, the price likely will be about the same as last year because of the world market, said Spencer Fuller, president of A.L. Ryan Co., which markets its processed shrimp under the Arctic Pride label.

Last year, the price dropped to 70 cents to a dollar a pound; the highest price at the Portland Fish Exchange on Tuesday was 93 cents a pound.