After a brief delay, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources will open shrimp season next week.
Carolyn Belcher, the chief of marine fisheries with the DNR’s Coastal Resources Division, said the season is opening toward the end of its normal window of early- to mid-June.
“We don’t want to put pressure on (the shrimp) too early,” she said. “We want to make sure the animals have a chance to spawn.”
The delay comes after the U.S. government closed federal waters to commercial shrimping during May. Belcher said Georgia requested the federal closure after a cold period earlier this year threatened the spawning period of the animal.
Beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday, commercial and recreational shrimpers will be allowed to harvest the animals from 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset in state-regulated waters. Shrimping in federal waters, which begin 3 miles out from the shore, is allowed 24 hours a day.
The season, which can open as early as the middle of May, typically lasts through the end of the year. The DNR commissioner can choose to extend the season through February.
The DNR works with an advisory panel of commercial and recreational shrimp harvesters and scientists to determine the best time to open the season.
The DNR also suspended commercial and recreational oyster harvesting through Sept. 30 to stem any potential spread of the naturally occurring Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria found in the shellfish. Oyster harvesting often is suspended during warm months, as it was last year, to keep the bacteria from spreading.
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