Louisiana fishermen’s hauls are full of large shrimp this year, but they say the abundance of imported shrimp is hurting the price they fetch at docks.
Commercial fisherman Phillip Silver, who lives near Dulac, tells The Courier large shrimp are selling for $1.50 a pound at the dock near him. In the 1990s, by comparison, he says large shrimp sold between $4 and $4.50 per pound.
When Lance Nacio, one of 5,500 licensed Louisiana fisherman, recently walked into a Fresh Market grocery store, he made a beeline for the seafood, as he always does, only to discover that only one type of shrimp was local out of the nine varieties for sale.
The first shrimping season of the year opened May 23. Louisiana fishermen report their early hauls are full of large white shrimp and average brown shrimp. But regardless of the local quality, some local fisherman are finding it difficult to compete with the abundance of imported shrimp.
“Import shrimp is a lot of what drives global price,” says Nacio. “We’re not considered a specialty anymore. We’re more of a commodity.”
Fifth generation commercial fisherman Parish Williams says he can only get 90 cents a pound at the sheds near him in Golden Meadow. Williams, who owns the boat Chackbay Lady, says every trip costs him $2,500 to $3,000 just to leave the dock after buying groceries, ice and fuel. That doesn’t even factor in the pay for his crew.
“You gotta get at least $2 a pound to pay your expenses,” Williams says. “If I’d a sold everything at the shed, we had about 6,000 pounds, I wouldn’t even have gotten $6,000. Then I gotta pay my crew and I gotta get the fuel again and the ice again. I would just be turning over money.”
In response to low shed prices, Williams is now selling his own shrimp out of his boat. Rather than making 90 cents a pound at the sheds, he sells for $2 a pound. The shift in retail responsibilities helps, but it is not a complete solution.
