UMaine mentioned in MPBN report on Maine shrimp, spawning study
The Maine Public Broadcasting Network reported despite a moratorium on the northern Maine shrimp fishing season for the third consecutive year, some wholesale buyers, restaurants and markets could have Maine shrimp this winter due to a study currently underway throughout the state. This week, fishermen have been harvesting Maine shrimp from traps and trawlers as part of a sampling project being conducted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Technical Committee — a regulatory panel that manages the fishery — as well as other agencies including the Maine Department of Marine Resources and the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine, according to the report. As part of the program, four shrimp trawlers and two trappers are collecting northern shrimp samples for biologists until mid-April, in order to study the timing of the egg hatch and the size, gender and developmental stage of the shrimp. Those shrimp not used for the sample are allowed to be sold. The sampling program allows participating fishermen to land a total of just over 48,500 pounds of shrimp from the Gulf of Maine, the report states.