US: Council votes to extend moratorium on northern shrimp but opens limited winter research harvest

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to extend a decade-long moratorium on harvesting northern shrimp, but it will allow a small winter harvest to collect data on the stock.The moratorium went into place in 2014 after regulators determined the stock’s biomass was too low, but the population has yet to recover. A 2024 government stock assessment update found no improvement, while the 2023 summer survey found that abundance, biomass, and recruitment were the lowest since data began being collected in 1984.However, New England fishers will soon have an opportunity to show regulators that northern shrimp are more abundant than previous surveys have shown.With the discontinuation of the summer shrimp survey, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has approved a 2025 winter sampling pilot program. The limited winter harvest will run through March or whenever fishers hit the 26.5 metric ton research set-aside program.“The goal of the program is to continue the ...