After two consecutive years of early closures of the northern shrimp season, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is poised to implement new rules for the upcoming season to stop the overharvest of shrimp in the Gulf of Maine.

By November, shrimp fishermen will have some idea of the new rules they may have to navigate, which could include trip limits, restricted fishing days, making the shrimp fishery in the Gulf of Maine a limited-access fishery, or any combination of the three options.

Over the summer and into the fall, the commission has been holding hearings about the possibility of new regulations in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, the three states that harvest northern shrimp. Commissioners are expected to finalize any changes in the rules and set a quota for the upcoming season before November.

The rulemaking comes in the aftermath of two consecutive shrimping seasons that were cut short because of overharvest, said Michael Waine, a fishing management-plan coordinator for the commission. While the shrimp fishery is still in good shape, it will decline if overfishing isn’t brought under control, he said.

“The rate of removal is just too high right now,” Waine said.

And because of reporting of landings has been slow, shrimp fishermen have jumped way over the quota line in recent years, he said.

“Last year, we harvested one and a half times what we were supposed to,” Waine said.

The slow reporting forced officials to close the shrimp fishery on short notice the past two years. This pulled the rug out from under the business plans of many fishermen and processors dependent on shrimp, said Maggie Raymond, executive director of Associated Fisheries of Maine, a co-op of ground fishermen.

“It has caused great hardship,” said Raymond.

More Maine groundfishermen and lobstermen have been going after shrimp in recent years, say fishing observers. The shrimp fishery is one of the last open fisheries in U.S. waters, and it has become increasingly enticing to groundfishermen grappling with restrictions in the national catch-share program, as well as lobstermen in this tough economic climate.

“It’s a winter fishery; it’s something they can supplement their income with,” said Trisha De Graaf, resources coordinator for the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

But increased entry into the shrimp fishery has caused turmoil for fishermen who have traditionally depended on shrimp. Groundfishermen who spent part of the year shrimping before the catch-share program began were given a smaller catch allocation under the new program, said Raymond. These fishermen are more dependent than ever on shrimp and they’re feeling squeezed out, she added.

Opinions collected during the comment period showed that there was no clear consensus among stakeholders on what the new rules should be. Ideas under consideration include setting a limit on the amount of shrimp caught each fishing trip, designating days off for the shrimp season, a most likely nd delaying the shrimp season until January. Any new regulations will require enhanced reporting from shrimp buyers of landings, a measure that will provide officials with a more accurate real-time portrait of how close fishermen are to meeting the quota.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association sent a letter to the commission with a list of recommendations for the new rulemaking. Suggestions included a 3000-pound trip limit, a six-day shrimping week, and holding back 15% of the quota for the final few weeks of the season. The association also wants to delay the season until mid-January. Such a schedule makes sense for everyone, including processors, said Patrice McCarron, the association’s executive director.

“It would allow the processors to finish off the lobster season and switch over to the shrimp season,” McCarron said.

But Associated Fisheries’ Raymond says many of these provisions have already been attempted, and they haven’t stopped the closure of the shrimp fishery. The only thing that can ensure continued health for the Maine shrimp industry is to limit access to the fishery, she said.

“It really is not possible to have an open-access fishery that is sustainable,” Raymond said.

But she concedes that such an idea likely lacks the traction to carry the argument. Shrimp fishermen have been advocating for limiting access to the fishery for over a decade, she said, and this is the first time that the suggestion has garnered serious consideration. Raymond believes officials don’t have the political capital to limit access to the shrimp fishery.

“They’re under a lot of political pressure from constituents to keep the fishery open,” she said.

Waine believes the new rules will give fishing officials the power to implement many of the ideas suggested by the northeast fishing community, to use as needed. Many stakeholders want the officials to have varied regulatory tools to meet the challenges of each individual season, he said.

“Generally, most think it’s useful to keep the options in the toolbox, while acknowledging that they don’t necessarily have to be used,” Waine said.

Maine fishermen land the most shrimp of the three states, by far; Maine dealers reported landing 4,750 metric tons during the 2011 season, according to initial state data. By contrast, the other two states combined to catch 784 metric tons. According to voting rules of the commission, each state will have one vote to adopt or reject the proposed rules.