PORTLAND – Officials from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts agreed Tuesday to set a shrimp fishing season that will be the shortest in decades, running from Feb. 15 to March 11.

Some fishermen said it won’t be worth rigging their boats, and some processors warned of the difficulty involved in hiring crews for just three weeks. But other analysts suggested that special restrictions are needed to relieve a fragile fishery.

“We’re at the lowest level we’ve seen since the stocks collapsed in the late 1970s,” said Margaret Hunter, a biologist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

A full shrimp season would last about 180 days. Fishermen and processors urged officials to salvage at least part of the season, some calling for 44 days.

“We have to have a little something to tide us over for the winter,” said Roger Libby, a fisherman from Port Clyde.

“I don’t really relish the thought of having to go 30 miles offshore to go groundfishing,” said Willis Spear of Yarmouth. “We really do need a fishery this winter. It looks really desperate for some people on the coast.”

In 2000, shrimp generated $4.2 million for New England fishermen. Coastal Maine hauls in 80 percent of the annual catch.