PORTLAND, Maine (AP) An oversight board is slated to make a decision next month on whether to allow shrimp fishing off New England this winter.
The fishery, based mostly in Maine, has been shut down since 2013. An arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is slated to make a decision about whether to allow a season this winter at a meeting on Dec. 17.
Recent science about the status of the shrimp population in the Gulf of Maine is not encouraging, regulators have said.
The shrimp, which prefer cold water, are imperiled by the warming of the ocean off New England. Scientists have said recently that warming waters led to increased predation from a species of squid that feeds on shrimp.
The shrimp were once a winter delicacy in New England and beyond.
