PORTLAND, Maine - Fishing regulators are looking to hire Maine fishermen to help study New England's imperiled cold water shrimp population.
The interstate Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Maine Department of Marine Resources say they plan to hire five shrimp trapping vessels to collect samples of Northern shrimp.
The fishermen will also be allowed to bring 500 pounds of shrimp per week to shore and sell them. The project will begin on Jan. 30, 2017, and last for eight consecutive weeks.
Scientists say warming oceans have negatively impacted the shrimp's ability to thrive off of the New England coast. Regulators shut the fishery down in 2013. They were formerly a popular winter seafood item in Maine and beyond.
The shrimp were formerly harvested by fishermen from Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.