Portland, ME – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section (Section) maintained the current moratorium on northern shrimp fishing for another three years through the 2028 fishing year, with no sampling program in 2026. This action responds to the northern shrimp stock remaining at low biomass levels over the past decade despite the fishing moratorium, first implemented in 2014.
The 2025 Northern Shrimp Data Update found no improvement in stock status with new time series lows in total abundance. Environmental conditions have been unfavorable for northern shrimp during the moratorium, although two environmental indices, the index of predation pressure and winter surface temperature, showed improvement in the most recent year of data. New recruitment and temperature management triggers were implemented through Amendment 4 and used in management for the first time this year. However, neither trigger was tripped.
While the moratorium will remain in place for three years, the Northern Shrimp Technical Committee will continue to provide the Section with annual data updates and management trigger analyses. If the recruitment and/or temperature triggers are tripped during the three-year moratorium, the Section can consider management action including sampling programs for 2027 and 2028. For the recruitment trigger, three years of non-failed recruitment would initiate a full stock assessment update with projections to be completed as soon as possible. For the temperature trigger, two out of three consecutive years of winter surface temperature and spring bottom temperature below the 80th percentile of the reference period (1984-2017) would prompt the Section to consider running the winter sampling program without the use of the size-sorting grates.
For more information, please contact Chelsea Tuohy, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at ctuohy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.
Motion
Move to maintain the commercial harvest moratorium for three additional years (2026, 2027, 2028). No research set aside quota is set for 2026; however, the Section will evaluate information from the annual data update, including information from the management triggers, to evaluate winter sampling in future years of the moratorium.
Motion made by Renee Zobel and seconded by Bob Glenn. Motion is approved by unanimous consent.