Northern Shrimp Amendment 4

In May 2025, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved Amendment 4 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Northern Shrimp. All provisions of the amendment are effective immediately. In response to the continued poor condition of the northern shrimp stock, Amendment 4 modifies the first objective of the FMP to recognize the influence of environmental conditions on stock productivity and lengthens the amount of time the Northern Shrimp Section (Section) can set a moratorium from one year to up to five years. The Section can call a meeting at any time to review information relative to the fishery and the resource and initiate management action, if necessary.

Amendment 4 also adds management triggers to the FMP as part of the annual stock monitoring process. Management triggers include recruitment and temperature triggers that signal potential improvement in stock conditions. The recruitment trigger will be achieved when the stock experiences non-failed recruitment for three consecutive years. If achieved, a stock assessment update will be conducted. If the recruitment trigger is not achieved, but non-failed recruitment occurs in two out of three years, the Section will consider conducting a winter sampling program without the use of size-sorting grates. This program will allow the Northern Shrimp Technical Committee to evaluate stage and length frequencies, and year class persistence before initiating a full assessment update. The temperature trigger will be considered reached when two out of three consecutive years of winter surface temperature and spring bottom temperature in the Gulf of Maine fall below the 80th percentile of the reference period. If achieved, the Section will consider a winter sampling program. These triggers are intended to help the Section identify if the stock is viable enough to support a fishery. 

Finally, Amendment 4 adds the specifications setting timeline and management triggers to measures subject to change through adaptive management, allowing these management measures to be changed in the future via an addendum rather than an amendment.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission conducted the following public hearings to gather input on the amendment:

Public Hearing Presentation and Recording

Public comment on Amendment 4 was accepted until 11:59 PM (EST) on March 12, 2025. This included comments received at a public hearing or written comments submitted to the Commission. All comments were reviewed by Commission staff and compiled into a Public Comment Summary, which was provided to the Northern Shrimp Section as part of the meeting materials for the May 2025 Northern Shrimp Section Meeting.

• Chelsea Tuohy, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, ctuohy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740