Maine's shrimp industry is worse than it's
been in decades.
Marine managers banned shrimp fishing in
the Gulf of Maine both last year and this year and Maine state biologists are
not optimistic about next year, WMTW News 8 reports.
The Department of Marine Resources is
working with local fishermen to collect shrimp samples in an effort to figure
out why the shrimp population is so low.
Tuesday morning, South Bristol fisherman
Arnie Gamage went out on his last trip to collect shrimp for state scientists.
WMTW News 8 reporter Paul Merrill went out
with Gamage on that trip.
Mr Gamage estimates he brought in 60 or 70
pounds of shrimp, but he says that's not an indication that there are plenty of
shrimp in the Gulf of Maine.
"You really can't judge what's going
on because there's nobody else here. There's no competition," Mr Gamage
said.
Mr Gamage is one of five trappers who has
special permission from the state to harvest shrimp.
He's not allowed to sell any of the shrimp.
Maggie Hunter is one of the biologists at
the Department of Marine Resources in Boothbay Harbor who studies samples that
fishermen like Mr Gamage collect.
Ms Hunter believes that climate change is
responsible for the lack of shrimp in the Gulf of Maine.
"The water temperatures have been
getting warmer and the shrimp that we have here in the Gulf of Maine are an
arctic/sub-arctic species, and this is the furthest south that you'll find them
so, as you might suspect, they're vulnerable to increases in temperature,"
Ms Hunter said.
She believes the large size of the shrimp
she's seen means that there is still a lack of younger shrimp in the waters off
Maine.
"I'm not very hopeful about next
year's season but maybe after that things will look better," Ms Hunter
said.
Mr Gamage believes that both warmer water
temperatures and over-fishing have both contributed to the low shrimp
population.
Unlike Ms Hunter, Mr Gamage is optimistic
about next year.
"I've told everybody we're right where
we want to be for the state of Maine. The snowmobilers are happy. The ski areas
are happy, and the shrimp fishermen are happy that we got a cold winter, and
we've got some shrimp spawning in shore in the Gulf of Maine and the fishery's
going to come back. I'm sure of that now," said Mr Gamage.
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