New England's decades-old shrimp fishery, a victim of climate change, to remain closed indefinitely

abcnews.go.com:

Regulators voted on Friday that New England’s long-shuttered shrimp business, which fell victim to warming waters, will remain in a fishing moratorium indefinitely

PORTLAND, Maine — New England's long-shuttered shrimp business, which fell victim to warming waters, will remain in a fishing moratorium indefinitely, fishery regulators ruled on Friday.

The shrimping business was based mostly in Maine and produced small, pink shrimp that were a winter delicacy in New England and across the country. The industry has been in a moratorium since 2013 in large part because environmental conditions off New England are unfavorable for the cold water-loving shrimp.

That moratorium will remain in effect with no firm end date, a board of the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted Friday. The board stopped short of calling the move a permanent moratorium because it included a provision to continue monitoring the shrimp population and consider reopening the fishery if the crustaceans approach a healthy level.

But it was clear board members saw little chance of a future for a fishery that once provided a beloved seafood item that appeared on restaurant menus and in seafood markets every year around Christmas.

“I think we’re all done here with this stock. I see the water temperatures. I don’t think we’re coming back,” said Mike Armstrong, an environmental analyst and member of the panel.

The warming of the Gulf of Maine, a body of water where the shrimp live that is critical to U.S. commercial fishing for species such as scallops and lobsters, is an ongoing subject of scientific study. In addition to the shrimp, other New England species, such as Atlantic cod, have also declined in the face of warming waters and