Description of a shrimping trip out of Cundy\u27s Harbor aboard the seventy-foot st

Description of a shrimping trip out of Cundy\u27s Harbor aboard the seventy-foot steel trawler Mary Ellen. Captain Charlie Saunders has been shrimping every winter since 1957, and maintains that luck and intuition play a role in landing the shellfish. The shrimping area favored by Casco Bay fishermen is known as The Edge of Bottom, and is characterized by a flat, sandy, or gravelly bottom. Saunders points out that roughly three-quarters of Casco Bay is too rugged for shrimping. The current management system of the shrimp fishery has been a success story, and so far, the shrimp population remains strong. But Saunders, who is also president of the Maine Fisherman\u27s Cooperative Association, worries that shrimpers may become victims of their own success if not careful. The 1996 shrimp catch in Maine was a record $13 million, landing 17.8 million pounds of shrimp. Details