Monday, February 18, 2013

Big shrimp ahead!

Again this year, the state intends to open a commercial fishery for those enormous, delectable spot shrimp in Prince William Sound.

The season will open April 15 with a 66,300-pound quota, says this announcement from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Last year was a bit of a bust with 33 boats landing a total of 20,615 pounds, or only about 40 percent of the preseason quota.

The fishery, however, rotates around the Sound. The 2012 harvest was in Area 3, while this year's fishery will be in Area 1.

Fishermen use pot gear to capture the big shrimp, also known as spot prawns.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Let's hope that the Dept has not made a mistake. It took a couple of decades to get the shrimp population up enough to allow a commercial harvest and at least for last year there were very few shrimp caught in one of the three areas where harvests are permitted. I am very fearful that the Board of Fish made a mistake four years ago in opening up a commercial fishery. It relied on data from the Dept that suggested that there were ample shrimp. We shall see.