Texas Shrimp season devastated by freshwater

FULTON - The shrimp boat captain sat at the helm, listening to other captains talk over the radio about the catch they brought in the day before.

After subtracting the cost of fuel, one captain had $75 to split with his deckhand.

"Seventy-five dollars is nothing," said Capt. Jose Luis Cruz. "There's no shrimp. The freshwater pushed the shrimp to the Gulf."

An overabundance of rainfall not only devastated the livelihood of farmers but also hurt those who harvest from the sea.

Friday, Calhoun County Judge Mike Pfeifer signed a declaration of disaster to trigger financial support for those hit hardest by the massive amounts of freshwater dumped into the bays.

The bay ecosystem requires a balance of saltwater and freshwater to sustain life. The last time the judge signed a disaster declaration for the seafood industry was in 2011 when severe drought made the bays too salty.

Young shrimp grow up in the bay and move to the Gulf after they mature, said James Nance, the director of the National Marine Fisheries Service's Galveston laboratory. The shellfish cannot physiologically tolerate too much freshwater.

And a lack of shrimp isn't just bad for humans with an appetite for seafood.

"While we consume them ourselves, they're a real important part of the food chain for larger fish to feed on," he said.

It's not yet clear how the rise in freshwater will affect sport fishermen, but shrimp boats are seeing the effects now. And oystermen and women are worried about what will be left when the oyster season opens in November. Shrimp can swim away from hostile conditions. Oysters cannot.

"I talked to some oystermen in Seadrift, and they agreed that they are all pretty much dead," Pfeifer said. "They may not have a job next winter."

The daily limit for shrimp boats is 800 pounds. But in Port Lavaca and Seadrift, where the Guadalupe River empties into the San Antonio Bay, crews were bringing between 200 and 300 pounds.

Adding to the industry's hardship is imported shrimp, which drive down prices. Boats are selling a pound of shrimp for 40 cents.

Friday, shrimp boats flocked to Aransas Bay.

"They didn't know there was shrimp here yesterday," said Angelo Solis, a deckhand on Cruz's boat.

Cruz looked across the bay with binoculars, eyeing the net being pulled in by another shrimping boat. The pressure to find shrimp was all the more pressing with competition nearby.

There was a time when shrimping was a lucrative business. Without worrying about the bottom line, fishermen and women could enjoy the time spent throwing catch off the boat to seagulls and dolphins.

But now shrimpers must worry about their own mouths to feed.

"I need work," Cruz said.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department lifted restrictions on shrimp boats this year. Boats can be on the water longer and bring in more shrimp, said Lance Robinson, deputy director for the coastal fisheries division of the department.

But the amount of shrimp caught doesn't appear to have increased.

"There's not as much fishing effort going on," Robinson said. "The boats just can't afford to leave the docks."

There are only a couple weeks left in the bay shrimping season. On July 15, captains with bigger boats and bigger crews will follow the shrimp into the Gulf.

But while freshwater shocked the ecoystem this season, nutrients that drained into the bay will provide a healthy habitat for shrimp and other marine life in years to come, Robinson said.

"We mustn't lose sight of the fact that these species have used these estuaries for millennia. They have adapted to these wide fluctuations in conditions," he said. "These species may take a hit one year, but they will bounce back relatively quickly."