Shrimping is shrinkingIndustry on life support as number of licenses plummets By Bo Petersen (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Industry on life support as number of licenses plummets They are disappearing icons of the coast, the sprawling nets of shrimp trawlers now hard at work in the heart of the fall season. The waters teem with large, succulent white shrimp. But the number of commercial trawling licenses is a third of what it was 15 years ago, and a lot of those 359 license holders leave their boats tied up. Working shrimpers say they have been on life support through federal grants. They struggle with rising fuel and operating costs, and a dock price for the catch cut in half by competition from cheaper farm-raised imports. They are being squeezed out of dock space by recreational boats or encroaching real estate. But the business is in trouble for more reasons than the price of gas. Its future might be a "boutique" industry — smaller boats working leased grounds to supply niche markets such as restaurants. They would operate more like family truck farms today. Yet shrimpers hold fast to a generations-old tradition of big, roving boats that might be adding to their expenses and hastening the industry's disappearance. Shrimp trawling has been criticized by environmentalists and sports fishermen for bycatch —fish and other sea creatures unintentionally caught in the nets along with the shrimp — that they say robs the fisheries, even though South Carolina shrimpers now use bycatch- reducing devices on their nets. 
Mic Smith Thomas Gathers unloads freshly caught shrimp off the boat Village Lady on Sept. 13 at the McClellanville dock by Carolina Seafoods near Oak Street. The shrimp boats out there now compete with more than 8,000 inshore recreational shrimp baiters for a crop that moves from inshore spawning to offshore adulthood. Offshore, shrimpers, like other commercial fishermen, compete with a growing horde of recreational fishing boats for what study after study shows is a depleting catch. Much like the collapse of the New England fisheries in the 1980s, everyone is pointing the finger at someone else. Getting by Hundreds of thousands of sports and charter boats now fish alongside a few thousand commercial boats off the Southeast coast. As the catch thins and restrictions tighten, resentments snarl like crossed lines. In that atmosphere, $5 million in federal agricultural subsidies for South Carolina shrimpers brought more than a few snarls. The agricultural subsidy was paid in 2004-05 to boat owners and dock owners based on their production; the harder you worked, the more help you got. The average payment was about $20,000. On top of that, a tariff settlement of more than $100 million was reached by the eight-member state Southern Shrimp Alliance with Asian countries exporting shrimp. It was paid out last year to the alliance, marketing efforts and individual shrimpers. The tariff money is harder to break down; it's federal grants paid out of separate funds depending on the country paying the tariff. But again, payments to South Carolina appear to average about $20,000 per shrimper. The shrimper's grants were supposed to be yearly, but the law was repealed and the money now will go to the federal government. Shrimp catches vary day to day, and prices vary, too, negotiated based on factors such as market demand and whether shrimp are heads-on or head-off. A traditional, 75-foot shrimp boat would average 600-700 pounds per trip this year; a 45-foot boat, 300-400 pounds, one dock owner estimated. The average dock price this year for head-on shrimp has been about $2.50 per pound — $750 to $1,750 per trip to pay fuel, crew, maintenance and other costs, and try to make a living. That's about half the retail price. The shrimpers' payments "sound like a lot of money. But when something breaks on a shrimp boat that's not a lot of money," said Debbie Hattaway, whose husband, Errol, is a McClellanville shrimper. "It got us through the winter last year. Errol still hasn't been able to get the boat up on the railway to scrape and paint." Rutledge Leland's Carolina Seafoods in McClellanville took in a lion's share of the federal agriculture subsidy — about $110,000 in total boat and dock owner grants. Leland makes no bones about it. His business and dock handle more shrimp boats than anywhere else in South Carolina. He's pledged to keep it running as long as he can — as waterfront homes with docks begin to line Jeremy Creek downstream. "Yeah, it's now a subsidized industry. You couldn't really argue it. The boats have gotten a lot of help the past four, five years," Leland said. His money? "Sucked right up in the business to try to keep this going. Believe me, I didn't use it to go to the Bahamas. We're working on margins most people would laugh at." Beware of bycatch Bycatch is a dirty word in the fishing industry — fish hooked or netted inadvertently while fishing for something else. Brought on board, the fish are sometimes taken as a bonus, but more often discarded overboard, where many die. Bycatch is blamed by all sides for at least part of the decline in the fisheries. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, the rule-maker for offshore fishing, is changing its approach from catch restrictions to putting nursery areas off limits to fishing, partly in response to the difficulty of regulating bycatch. Shrimpers are vilified for bycatch, and with some reason. The nets rake the bottoms, and come up with a squiggling spew of food fish such as spots and menhaden, and game fish such as flounder and sharks. A 2002 study found Gulf Coast shrimp trawls took in 10 times more finfish than shrimp, measured by weight. South Carolina shrimpers, with turtle-excluder devices and bycatch-reduction devices on the trawl nets, do far better. But they still pulled in nearly three times more finfish in weight than shrimp, according to the study. "It continues to be a major concern ... particularly with juvenile and sub-adult finfish species (such as) croaker, weakfish, flounder, Spanish mackerel," Scott Whitaker, the South Carolina executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association, said in an e-mail. He also said CCA would support capping the number of trawling licenses at the current number. The association, a lobby for recreational anglers, hasn't made more of an issue of it because the problem is solving itself as more shrimp boats go out of business. Whitaker called the drop in the number of boats unfortunate but much needed. "I've noticed in the past three years there are fewer shrimp boats shrimping, and the fishing has gotten a lot better," said Robert Olsen, a recreational fishing charter captain in Charleston. Changing face of shrimping Their future might be exclusive boutique-style work, but shrimpers aren't biting just yet. Their leaders hang onto the hope that a proposed processing plant and a "wild American" shrimp marketing campaign can revive prices. "How are you going to tell families, third generation, that you're going to get rid of their boats so we can accommodate the Chinese with their third-rate, antibiotic-loaded shrimp?" said Clay Cable, vice president of the S.C. Shrimper's Association. But the face of the business is changing. Wayne Magwood, of the iconic Mount Pleasant shrimping family, is converting part of his dock space to dry storage for recreational boaters. The Hattaways, the McClellanville shrimping family, used part of their tariff money to help buy their own shrimp processing machine to sell the shrimp they catch — headed, deveined and de-tailed — to a handful of Charleston-area restaurants. The S.C. Shrimper's Association used $84,000 in marketing grants to build a billboard-like trailer kitchen that travels to festivals cooking and selling fresh Lowcountry shrimp — an approach not much different than truck farming; most of the shrimpers working Leland's McClellanville dock use the 45-foot boats that are somewhat smaller and more economical. Younger shrimpers, particularly, these guys listen to you when you say there's ways to do better," Leland said. "They're trying. They really are. There will always be some demand for fresh wild shrimp. It's just a matter of producing shrimp at a price that works for everybody. What face it takes, that's a tough one." Reach Bo Petersen at 745-5852 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com. |
Article toolsSponsored Links |
|
Notice about comments: Charleston.net is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Charleston.net does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not charleston.net. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "suggest removal" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Full terms and conditions can be read here. |
Comments
This article has 32 comment(s)
Posted by skeeter on October 10, 2007 at 7:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Just one more piece of Charleston's past that will soon be gone forever.
Posted by bhippey on October 10, 2007 at 7:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
shrimp are good. i really enjoy shrimp. ooooooh when red lobster has it's all you can eat shrimp.....mmmmmmm.
Posted by trod on October 10, 2007 at 7:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I personally make sure i go to the docks to get my shrimp .if most of the low country would do the same our local shrimping industry would flourish.going to your local national/regional chain store to buy shrimp from god knows where at double/triple or more in price doesn't make sense .the guys down at the docks will welcome you.also if you can
if you have friends that want shrimp also go together purchase a larger quantity then split it when you get home you get a better price for buying in bulk they sell more of their catch.everyones happy.
Posted by crankyyankee on October 10, 2007 at 8:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The shrimp trawling industry is one of the worst means of harvesting a product that still exists. They catch and kill far more bio-mass than any other means of marine harvest. The annual bye-catch of dead discarded finfish was over 400 million meteric tons in the Gulf of Mexico alone last year. I know they are an icon among coastal cities and they harken back to happier times, but they won't be missed by the enviornment and it's supporters. Those things belong in a museum along with whaling boats and pirate ships! I make sure I don't buy any locally trawled shrimp unless caught in a cast net for the above reasons.
Posted by Early on October 10, 2007 at 8:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well said trod. I went to Wando Shrimp Co last week and got beautiful 16-20 count shrimp for $3.75/ pound fresh just off the boat. Just bring a cooler and they will load it with your shrimp and put ice on it and for you ladies, they will carry it to your car. We need to support our local shrimp markets by buying direct not from the Pig or Bi-Lo.
Those shrimp would have been $8-10 per pound there.
I also notice while in Florida a couple a weeks ago that the shrimpers were using much smaller boats around 25'with a two man crew. They could probably offload two or three times a day and would spend a fraction of the cost than to operate the trawlers. Maybe our younger shrimping generation will follow the same economical path.
Posted by chris50 on October 10, 2007 at 8:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
cy-
i could'nt agree more
Posted by bhippey on October 10, 2007 at 8:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Early...where is the Wando Shrimp Company???? That price is SUPER cheap.
Posted by trod on October 10, 2007 at 8:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If its caught caught over bait it is illegal to sell therefore your breaking law.{Restrictions:
• Shrimp caught over bait cannot be sold. from scdnr}as well as our states shrimpers have stricter requirements than some states to reduce bycatch.when did the gulf of mexico have to do anything with our local boys who go out off our shores in Charleston daily .i suppose you have done studies to see what foreign shrimp farms do and put in their shrimp.the chemicals in that junk once it gets here.ill make sure i purchase two times as much local shrimp this year.
Posted by trod on October 10, 2007 at 8:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
heck crosbys was 2 and some change a pound the other day but they run out quick so call first to see if they have any.
Posted by singleroni on October 10, 2007 at 8:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
no they think the shrimp from other countries are trained to jump in the boat or nets without harm to other life forms. Smell them they are not fresh.and probably glow in the night from chemicals added to the ponds to keep them for transport to the usa.
Posted by Early on October 10, 2007 at 8:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
bhippey,
There are on the strip behind Shem Creek, worth the drive.
CY, by what means would you have shrimpers catch the amount of shrimp we consume in the lowcountry?
Posted by RTC on October 10, 2007 at 8:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Local shrimp are the best.
Magwood's has always had great seafood, but I understand this will be their last year.
If we don't catch our own then that is where we buy them.
It is sad to see generations of families having to give up their livelyhoods.
"Friends don't let friends eat imported shrimp" will one day be a passe saying. :(
Posted by Brant on October 10, 2007 at 9:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The sight of a shrimper out on the ocean, early in the morning, is one of the more enduring images in my mind. If there's one truly iconic images, that's it. What a shame (and sham) it'll be if this fades away.
Posted by ln1959 on October 10, 2007 at 9:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My Uncle works on one of those 6 man shrimp boats and I enjoy it when he come in and I can buy the shrimp as soon as they come in. (Okay, I get mines free..ha ha ha). Its a crime that the stores are buying those shrimp from places like China, where they had bad sea food come into the US. Lets support our own and we would have cheaper prices.
Posted by greener1 on October 10, 2007 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It's sad to see some of these people go, but this industry is a business. If you car wash isn't washing cars, or if water is offsetting you making a profit, is/should the government going to step in and give them a subsidy for not making money? Obviously these people had a brain at some point, or rich family that could start a business to make it operational and profitable. Are you going to tell me that now there are just too many factors against the fisherman that is running them out of business? They need to adapt to TODAY and stop living in yesterday. If they can;t they deserve to be out of business. Crying and whining that the little guys and fuel is telling me they are lazy and not resourceful!
Posted by crankyyankee on October 10, 2007 at 9:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well let's see! Half of you hate me because of where I'm from and it seems the rest hate me for telling truths on the shrimping industry. To Trod, I cast net my own shrimp and without bait when I want them. I don't sell them and I throw back what I don't keep alive. If I don't catch shrimp I don't eat shrimp (isn't that a novell idea). Another thing Trod. What diference does it make what methods the Asians are using to harvest shrimp? It doesn't make our methods right or anymore efficent. Trod would have us believe it's OK for us to screw up our evironment because those Asians are doing worse! How sad is that?
Posted by greener1 on October 10, 2007 at 9:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Come on' Yankee, after reading trod's comments, do you really think he could catch his own shrimp? I know your smarter than that!
These are the type of people that gripe about change, the environment yet they do nothing to better it themselves. They'll be the 1st ones to stand up though and say 'That's wrong."
Posted by Early on October 10, 2007 at 9:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yankee, maybe you missed my previous post and I say this respectfully. Have you heard of any other method that may produce the amount of shrimp the lowcountry consumes?
I too am concerned about the by-catch.
Posted by streetmutt on October 10, 2007 at 9:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
way to catch up p&c: http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/pub/13... and http://www.scbiznews.com/content/view/43...
Posted by trod on October 10, 2007 at 9:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ive been fishing and shrimping [recreational] for over thirty years in the fabulous low country.and your talking about subsidy s what about the tax breaks ect that your local governments give to local businesses like nucor/blackbaud ect. to keep them here is it really any different by not taxing them as they should is the same as giving them a subsidy.the fact of the matter is we as a population on earth are outgrowing our resources a natural occurrence no matter what you green people think or do will change that fact it may slow it down for a while but the end result will be the same.species die out and new ones are found everyday evolution has proved this time and time again .ill flat out support my neighbors lively hood before i support a foreigners period.with friends and neighbors like you the local shrimpers and Charleston doesn't need enemys.
Posted by rochester1975 on October 10, 2007 at 9:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm glad to see them go they have a huge amount of waste for what they harvest.
born in Charleston
raised in South Carolina
offshore fisherman for as long as I can remeber
Don't help/support a bad industry like shrimping just because you like looking at the boats.
Posted by Early on October 10, 2007 at 10:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think some of the countries in South America actually have farms but in the oceans contained by nets. Zero by-catch.
Posted by rochester1975 on October 10, 2007 at 11:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
that would be a great alternative
Posted by scnative4ever on October 10, 2007 at 12:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Bhippey and crankyankee, you two have to be the most ignorant people who post on this site. You obviously are new to the area and have no clue about anything about this wonder place I live. You two idiots need to listen more and keep your mouths shut until you know what your are making a stance against. Typical yankee and dipstick!!! Are you guys brothers?
Posted by chris50 on October 10, 2007 at 3:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
farm raised shrimp. yes, it's prevelent on the east coast. more efforts should go into making shrimping renewable, and avoiding all the by-catch. i have only seen domestic farm raised shrimp in a few places, but i always buy it over the locals when given the option. i guess that makes me a stupid treehugger though.
Posted by trod on October 10, 2007 at 3:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
no i see what your saying we still want the shrimp industry but with out the by catch.id rather have by catch than foriegn though
Posted by Jameson on October 10, 2007 at 4:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
greener1 has a point: Its up to the shrimpers to play in today's market. If they think their product is superior, then they need to start educating folks about why imported shrimp isn't good (there are a variety of compelling reasons) in order to increase demand for their product. Of course their product needs to actually be better than their competition, which would include the industry paying attention to their environmental impact and the sustainability of their methods.
Posted by kennyt on October 10, 2007 at 5:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
After hearing about all the toxin in the water from boats, leaking nuclear subs, old tires, hospital waste, and the occasional dead body and Westvaco pouring that red waste water into the river oh and the shrimp catching on fire when they are out of the water scares me. I love shrimp, shrimp gumbo shrimp fried rice boiled shrimp barbeque shrimp (thanks Forest Gump) anyway be careful and lobster are the coachroach of the sea!
Posted by trod on October 10, 2007 at 6:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
heck a lot of people don't know good shrimp or bad shrimp.just for those whom dont know red lobster and captain d isn't good shrimp hell isn't good seafood period.eating that kind of crud where everythings fried in the same grease you might as well be served fried turds they'll just taste like the grease anyway.
Posted by skeeter on October 10, 2007 at 6:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yankees think they know everything.
Posted by RTC on October 10, 2007 at 7:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey trod, no kidding about those restaurants. I wonder how many people think they are eating scallops, and they are really getting stingray wing?
You can punch them out in perfect circles, and they taste about the same.
Posted by trod on October 10, 2007 at 10:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
no way wonder how scallops all grow the same exact size lol