THE MAINE SHRIMP

[Music] we're hauling and more Holland we're hauling no way fightin the wind and the cold on the baby our fathers grandfathers were fishermen [Music] it's winter in the Gulf of Maine the air is bitter cold and the seas are rough but that doesn't stop the skippers of Maine shrimp boats from heading out to sea and casting their nets for the small but tasty and highly prized Coldwater delicacy among the fleet is this small one-man dragger fishing near Monhegan Island this fisherman can operate his boat in Holly's net at the same time from a small platform at the afterdeck one slip could plunge him into that frigid water where death lies moments away these are typical winter conditions fighting a strong wind in rough sea he Ares hauling back his net it's catchers attracted a swarm of hungry seabirds which somehow survive these harsh conditions with the help of food they steal from the fishing boats the species of shrimp fished off Maine is called Pandalus borealis the northern shrimp its distribution ranges from the Bering Sea on the coast of Alaska Greenland Iceland Norway Sweden and as far south in Europe as northern England in North America it reaches its southern limits in the Gulf of Maine another small dragger with a two-man crew here is hauling back its net shrimp fishing in Maine began as a commercial enterprise in 1939 shrimp landings after World War two approached eight hundred thousand pounds but then declined gradually until 1954 when no shrimp were landed on the Maine coast landings picked up in 1959 and increased to new records each year since 1961 recent yearly landings have topped 10 million pounds no tears this sketch is probably about a thousand pounds of shrimp caught during a two-hour told the net the catch is dumped onto the deck where it is sorted out trash fish thrown over the side edible fish such as codfish and flounder I'll put to one side while the shrimp are dumped directly into the hole [Music] the nets as it comes over the rail is checked for tears or rips which may occur during the two-hour drag over the bottom during long periods of sub-zero cold ice locks in the harbor then it's necessary to come in and break it up with the ice broken this fishing boat plows through to the unloading dock evidence of the rugged winter fishing conditions is this ice which covers decks and gear and makes fishing difficult and dangerous at the wharf shrimp are hauled from the hold and dumped into containers for transportation to the processing plant some plants located right at wharf side to ensure freshness of the processed shrimp [Music] [Music] processing of the shrimp takes a variety of forms these whole shrimp are being sorted in and graded and have been cooked in a special solution containing a red dye proof that they are fresh is the tight curl of the tail which occurs only if shrimp are cooked within three hours after catching the shrimp are packed in these containers for transportation to Canada and thence by air to Sweden where this type of shrimp pack is highly favored several million pounds of Maine shrimp are the shipped annually a large percentage of Maine shrimp are peeled by machines such as these which leave only the tail meat bits of shell are removed as they ride a conveyor belt past these women while some Maine shrimp are cooked in canned most are quick frozen when the IQF or individually quick frozen shrimp emerge they are given an attractive glaze with a fine spray of water the shrimp are packed in a variety of containers depending upon their Ultimates use here a small nine ounce package is prepared for domestic consumption at its research station that Boothbay Harbor the Maine Department of seeing Shore fisheries carries out a program studying the biology distribution and abundance of the northern shrimp here a vessel charted for the shrimp research program the dragon lady leaves the dock outward-bound on a research and exploratory cruise this old dragon lady [Music] [Music] the Gulf of Maine extending from Cape Anne along the Maine Shore to the western Nova Scotian Shore and South to Georges Bank contains a large commercial population of shrimp red circles on the chart indicate areas [Music] [Music] and route to the sampling area nets in gear inspected and readied for fishing the dragon lady carries several research nets of special design the shrimp Nets used of the so called semi balloon nets developed in the southern shrimp fishing industry the net consists of lightweight fine thread and small doors the net is fish from a 150 foot long bridle which is secured to a single wire operating from a single drum winch tow line length is generally three times the devil of the water all toes are one half hour in length [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] catches with the research net vary from about 40 to 150 pounds of shrimp depending upon when and where the toe is made the net is lined with a flying mesh liner in the Cod end to retain the smaller size shrimp as well as those of commercial size the toes also bring up flatfish ground fish and trash such as are usually caught in the commercial drags the quantities of shrimp Cod give a rough estimation of the abundance of shrimp in various areas in the spring larval shrimp those shrimp newly born which live in the mid depth of the water swarm along the coast here a plankton net is rigged up and dragged to catch these larvae for study the net is 1 metre in diameter and has a mass of approximately one millimeter as the net is recovered it is washed down with buckets of seawater in order to ensure that all specimens plankton shrimp larvae fish eggs and other small animals are washed down into the collecting bucket plankton net collections include not only shrimp larvae but also various kinds of microscopic marine organisms such as aero worms copepods jellyfish small shellfish and fish eggs this second-stage shrimp lava is approximately six millimeters long there are six stages of larval development before a shrimp leaves the planktonic life and settles to the bottom about the thermograph is used to measure the vertical temperature distribution in the water column the BT contains temperature and pressure depth sensitive elements which together provide information on temperature stratification temperature appears to affect the abundance and distribution of Maine shrimp a magnifying glass is used to read the information on a glass slide in the BT and results recorded in the logbook at the laboratory between 300 and 400 shrimp from each sample or examined principle points of interest are the shrimp's general condition size sex stomach contents and parasites a shrimp is measured in much the same way is is the lobster along the carapace or back shell with special micrometer calipers the sex of the shrimp is determined by examining the shape of the first and second swimming legs on the left is the characteristic male shape and on the right is the female it's interesting to note that the shrimp spends the first three years of its life as a male and then becomes an egg bearing female the binocular microscope is used to study the shrimp another project at the lab is an attempt to raise shrimp in temperature controlled tanks in order to study their reactions each tank has a preset temperature within the range which shrimp normally live filtered in cool sea water is brought into a heat exchange unit which raises it to the approximate temperature for each tank which is controlled by a thermostat each shrimp is raised in its own individual container [Music] and while scientists studied the shrimp at sea and in the laboratory hardy Maine fisherman continued to brave freezing cold and rough seas to bring us the delicate flavored shrimp from the cold waters of the Gulf of Maine [Music] [Music] coal rocky coast makes a man