The local shrimp industry, in the midst of a lucrative season, may see that season end as soon as Sunday, Feb. 20 due to the concerns of the regulatory body that oversees the fishery.
According to Norman Olsen, Commissioner of the Dept. of Marine Resources (DMR), a formal hearing is scheduled for Fri., Feb. 18 with a decision on the closure date likely to follow.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASFMC) Northern Shrimp Section regulates the northern shrimp fishery in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
A Nov. 4, 2010 press release from ASMFC identifies the “target harvest level” for the 2010-2011 season, originally scheduled for Dec. 1 to April 15, as 4000 metric tons.
“We are exceeding the quota,” Olsen said Feb. 15.
Landings “are up towards seven million pounds,” Olsen said. Equal to 3181 metric tons, the figure is about 1.8 million pounds short of the target harvest level.
“We are close to surpassing it,” Olsen said, and it’s “probably likely, given the way the numbers are going” that the Commission will close the season by Monday, Feb. 28.
Each of the three states making up the Northern Shrimp Section receive one vote and, at present, New Hampshire is pursuing a Feb. 20 closure, Massachusetts Feb. 23 and Maine Feb. 28.
David Osier, of Bremen, owns five trawlers – four actively shrimping – and buys shrimp from eight boats in South Bristol. Including the two-man crews of the 12 boats and Osier’s six shoreside employees, 30 people from his operation alone stand to lose their income if the season ends.
“It’s right in the middle of winter when times are tough,” Osier, a shrimper since 1981, said. “There’s no lobstering. There’s nothing to do but shrimp.”
Osier questioned the science behind the regulation of the fishery. “They think they know how many shrimp are out there,” he said. “I think [shrimp populations] are underestimated.”
The landings this year include a healthy supply of large, four to five-year-old shrimp that, if not caught this year, will die after laying their eggs, Osier said.
ASFMC “should give us a minimum season,” Osier said – he suggested Dec. 15 to March 15 – “so we can have a business plan.” Right now, “They can close us down whenever they want.”
The maximum season allowable, Osier said, is Dec. 1 to May 31. In 2010, ASFMC closed the season in early May.
Osier defended Olsen, who began the job Jan. 25 after confirmation of his nomination by the Senate. “He’s on our side,” Osier said. “He can only do so much because the other states have a say too.” The states govern on a one state, one vote basis, in spite of the fact that “Maine catches most of the shrimp” in the fishery.
Osier understands the science behind scientists’ concerns (“I can see their side”) but thinks regulation needs to reach “a happy medium.”
The early closure follows a rebound in the harvest after years of short seasons and low prices decimated the industry. Around 2004-2005, the fishery suffered lean times as regulators cut the season to four weeks one year, five weeks another.
The low harvest and short seasons devastated the shrimp industry. “We lost all our market,” Osier said, and the dock price dropped to 27 cents per pound.
Now, with dock prices up and boats returning to the fishery, an early closure threatens the Maine industry’s renewed prosperity.
Osier, using what he calls “lowball figures,” estimated he stands to lose $35,000 a week after the closure.
Commissioner Olsen, who, according to media reports, was a fourth generation commercial fisherman before beginning a career as a diplomat in Israel and Kosovo, understands the economic impact of early closure.
Fishing and processing jobs like the jobs Osier’s operation provides are “really critical to the Governor’s jobs agenda,” Olsen said.
“The problem is, if you take too many [shrimp] this year,” the Commission has to deduct the excess harvest from next year’s market, Olsen said.
Olsen stressed the importance of maintaining “long-term, sustainable shoreside employment” to include “sustainable fish docks, sustainable processors and sustainable marketing.”
