Regulators shut down Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery, say stock has ‘collapsed’
http://bangordailynews.com/2013/12/03/business/regulators-shut-down-gulf-of-maine-shrimp-fishery-say-stock-has-collapsed/
PORTLAND, Maine Northeastern regulators shut down the Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery for the first time in 35 years Tuesday afternoon, worried by reports of what researchers called a fully collapsed stock that could be driven to near extinction with any 2014 catch.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissions Northern Shrimp Section, a subset of the multistate agency that oversees North Atlantic shrimp fisheries, met Tuesday in Portland to set guidelines for the coming season.
The 11-person section decided by consensus to wipe out the 2014 season, denying a 175-metric-ton catch limit recommended by its Northern Shrimp Advisory Board.
The panel made its decision against a backdrop of plummeting shrimp populations off the coast of Maine, according to researchers with the commissions Northern Shrimp Technical Committee.
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