• Tara Bozick •
• Originally published July 14, 2008 at 11:48 p.m., updated July 14, 2008 at 11:48 p.m.

Shrimpers can harvest in the Gulf of Mexico today when the commercial shrimp season opens.

But that’s if shrimpers can afford to head out with diesel prices higher than $4 a gallon.

Calhoun County brought in just half of the shrimp landings in 2007 than it did for the 2006 season, said Mark Fisher, science director for the Coastal Fisheries Division with Texas Parks and Wildlife in Rockport.

He said he expects this next season could be worse.

The brown shrimp are relatively small, but plenty of white shrimp are in the Gulf, he said. The shrimp population is healthy, but the high cost of fuel and low dockside value of the shrimp keep shrimpers off the water.

“This is a great year for shrimp,” Fisher said. “It’s simply not profitable to go out and catch them.”

But, hopefully, transportation costs will catch up with the cheap imported shrimp to raise shrimp prices, he added. With less competition on the water, each boat can catch more per hour, increasing efficiency.

The Gulf shrimp season closed May 15 to give brown shrimp a chance to grow to a valuable size, instead of smaller ones being discarded as waste.

The waters open 30 minutes after sunset. Federal waters – from nine to 200 nautical miles offshore – will open at the same time as state waters.

Tara Bozick is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6504 or tbozick@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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