Feasibility of Certifying the Gulf of Maine Shrimp Trap Fishery as Sustainable
Northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) is an important fishery for the State of Maine but it is susceptible to environmentally-driven changes in stock abundance and market swings, making shrimp fishers economically vulnerable. The overall goal of the research project was to evaluate the benefit and fea...
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DigitalCommons@UMaine
2011
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| Online Access: | https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/1446 https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/context/etd/article/2467/viewcontent/MoffettC2011.pdf |
| Summary: | Northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) is an important fishery for the State of Maine but it is susceptible to environmentally-driven changes in stock abundance and market swings, making shrimp fishers economically vulnerable. The overall goal of the research project was to evaluate the benefit and feasibility of certifying the Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery as a sustainable fishery with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). In a partnership with Maine's Department of Marine Resources, we addressed three research tasks. Task one aimed to document and quantify temporal and spatial patterns of bycatch in the trap shrimp fishery. Utilizing on-board observers, this study found that the bycatch level of all non-target species in 2010 was 1.0 percent of catch weight. We recommend an extension of this study with increased temporal and spatial coverage to determine if the minimal bycatch trends observed persist in this fishery with additional years of data. A periodic review of sampling programs is essential to assess if management effectively and efficiently monitors variations in key fisheries statistics needed to achieve management objectives. In task two, we evaluated whether the northern shrimp port sampling program was representative of the commercial catch and effort. Vessel trip reports were used to develop a simulation study examining whether the port sampling program could be streamlined by reducing the number of samples collected. We recommend maintaining the level of sampling intensity for trap gear and increasing the sampling effort for trawl gear. We also suggested that both temporal and spatial factors be considered in optimizing sampling program design to capture variation of the catch and effort in this fishery. These results can help determine a cost-effective level of sampling effort in the Maine shrimp fishery. The focus of the third task was to evaluate the concerns and needs of the shrimp fishers. Our goal was to gather basic biographical information on those participating in the fishery and learn ... |
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