Shrimping returns to fleet of Pigeon Cove

1Three of the cove's six draggers have returned to shrimping, though the rebirth was short-lived for at least one.

Shrimping winters used to be a part of the cove fleet's yearly fishing plan up to about five years ago when a series of poor shrimping years — brought on by low shrimp prices, limited markets and short seasons that often opened after the peak holiday demand time for shrimp and when the shrimp were most abundant nearby — persuaded most of the draggermen to put their small-meshed shrimp nets ashore for good then and replace them with larger-meshed groundfish nets.

Groundfish, especially cod, began to rebound inshore then, and fishermen realized a good day's pay could be earned more quickly and easily groundfishing than shrimping. Now cod are abundant year-round off Gloucester, but each harvester can only land 800 pounds a day and must also have the days at sea (DAS) fishing time to catch them.

During those poor shrimping years, that fishery's governing body — the Northern Shrimp Section of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) — not only believed the shrimp stock needed rebuilding but also the short seasons, with late starts in January that would give more shrimp a chance to spawn before being netted, could help do this. One of the seasons only lasted 30 days, if I remember correctly.

The Pigeon Cove shrimpers, along with peers from New Hampshire and Maine, and processors, believed otherwise.

Many of them repeatedly told the ASMFC at its annual meetings that set the upcoming shrimping season's rules that the severe rebuilding measures weren't necessary since if there were no shrimp, fishermen wouldn't fish them. Fishermen and processors also warned the commission that the drastic rules would destroy the fishery's markets and infrastructure.

Today, the ASMFC deems the shrimp stock healthy and allows its harvesters a 180-day season, from Dec. 1 through May 29 of this year.

"I was the first one (in the current dragger fleet) down that harbor (Pigeon Cove) to put a shrimp net on over 20 years ago," explains Capt. Bob Fisher of Rockport, one of the cove's current shrimpers. He crews his 40-foot Marina Rose, a combination lobster boat and shrimp dragger, with 67-year-old Tom Henderson from Manchester.

"We had a good market then. We used to get a buck, sometimes $1.25 a pound for them. Now there's plenty of product, but no place to put them," Fisher added. "After the government (ASMFC) shortened the seasons, many of the processors went out of business because of no shrimp. Now they (ASMFC) let us shrimp, and there are no processors.

"The only year I missed shrimping was last year," he said. "The market wasn't good at all then."

"I quit shrimping about five years ago because of the short season and the lack of price," says Paul Theriault, captain and owner of another current cove shrimper, the 42-foot Terminator.

The third shrimper today, Dusty Ketchopulos, skipper of the 46-foot Special K, also stopped shrimping then for the same reasons.

Theriault and Ketchopulos have mainly groundfished inshore with their draggers since then. Ryan Osmond of Rockport crews with Theriault, while Kyle Conant of Gloucester assists Ketchopulos.

Fisher also used to groundfish, but he left that fishery and sold his permit several years ago.

"The shrimp are back, and the market (boat price) is 50 cents per pound. I wouldn't have quit for so long, but the government (ASMFC) ruined the market and killed the money," said Ketchopulos.

So, why did the three captains return to shrimping this winter?

"The groundfish prices were low, and I also wanted to save my groundfish days (allowable days at sea) for March when Lenten demand for fish usually drives their prices up," Theriault said.

"I'm running out of days at sea," said Ketchopulos, who also stopped because of the low boat prices for cod, which often ebbed and flowed around $1 per pound in early January.

"You could always count on the winter for a high price on fish," he added.

Many groundfishermen believe the National Marine Fisheries Service's ongoing groundfish regulations are overkill, seemingly focused only on saving fish and not the industry, and that they have weakened that fishery's infrastructure and markets.

Theriault, however, resumed shrimping for another reason:

"I want to get some (shrimp) landings history so they (the government) won't take away another fishery from me," he said.

Good landings histories have already proven critical in the groundfish and scallop fisheries.

On the other hand, Fisher, who sold his groundfish permit several years ago, returned to shrimping this year because, "There's nothing else going on in the winter for me."

Even though he lobsters year-round, cold weather and cold water usually put the brakes on in that fishery, especially from February into April.

"Shrimping is a lot of work. We make two hour-long tows (on the bottom with a funnel-shaped shrimp net that's weighed down and spread apart by a set of trawl doors)," Fisher explained.

"The worst parts of shrimping are the hours and the weather," Theriault added. "You are on deck from the time you haul back (the net and empty its catch) to the time you come in. To make money with shrimping, you have to go every day, and you have to catch volume."

The shrimpers usually head to sea just before daybreak and return around 4 p.m. Most of their fishing efforts have been concentrated nearby in Ipswich Bay. But bad weather often cuts short their fishing days. Their shrimp catches, which have been from 200 pounds and up per hour of bottom fishing time, have to be washed, picked through to remove some small fish — usually whiting and herring — and lastly contained in fish totes as 100-pound units.

"The cull doesn't get much better than now. It's now in the mid-40s (40-odd shrimp to the pound)," Theriault explained.

These shrimpers have installed special separator grates into their nets this season.

Fisher put a separator grate in his shrimp net while his boat was hauled out in Gloucester last January for repairs.

While he and friend Capt. Dennis Robillard of Elliot, Maine, were putting the grate into the net, the very man who researched the separator grate — Capt. Carl Bouchard of Exeter, N.H. — just happened to walk by.

"Carl helped us put the grate in. It was a stroke of luck," said Fisher.

Northern shrimp are a seasonal treat to many locals just as is fall mackerel and corn on the cob. Cove shrimpers sell their catches off the boat, while Ketchopulos and Theriault also off-load theirs at the Gloucester unloading branch for the Boston Seafood Display Auction.

Some of this shrimp has also supplied the Cape Ann Fresh Catch program.

The shrimping economics, however, have already made Ketchopulos go back to groundfishing.

"When you tow a small-meshed net all day, you burn more fuel (than towing a larger-meshed groundfish net), and it hasn't been profitable for us," he said.

Most of the dock-to-dock groundfish trips for day-boat draggers such as the Special K last about six hours, and the daily 800-pound cod limit can be netted in just minutes and later cleaned on deck in about 40 minutes.

For Fisher and Theriault, February is here.

"We are looking at a few more weeks (of fishing), and the shrimp will go off to deeper water," they said.

Gloucester lobsterman Peter K. Prybot writes regularly for the Times on the fishing industry and other issues.

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