Coastal roads in Texas tend to be flat except on the bridges that rise to cross many marshes, bayous, and rivers whose waters meander to Gulf of Mexico ports with long traditions of shrimping. About 95 percent of Texas’ shrimp fleet calls these harbors home: Port Arthur and Sabine; Galveston and Bolivar; Palacios; and Port Isabel and Brownsville.

At the docks in Galveston, shrimp boats’ names reflect their owners’ hope, family, and pride. The Lucky Star promises productive trawling. The Lady Breexpresses the love of Captain Adrian Etie for his wife, Briana. The Capt. Johnny and the Capt. Johnny II and III honor owner Johnny Huyn.

It’s easy to read these boats’ names because many sat idle in their berths even during the height of the shrimping season, which began July 16 and ends on November 30. In normal times, these boats would be out in a bay for the day or at sea for weeks, following shrimp from Texas to Florida and back again. But these are not normal times. The American shrimping industry, from the Gulf of Mexico around Florida to the South Atlantic, is nearly at a standstill, undersold and sidelined by a deluge of cheap imported farm-raised shrimp from Asia and South America that have been “dumped”—sold to the United States at below-market value.

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Coastal Georgia shrimpers fear loss of industry as foreign seafood crowds market, The Current GA / Nov 21, 2023

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Many owners are keeping their boats docked rather than spending money on diesel, boat repairs, and crew wages to net shrimp that will sell at a loss. The Eties have been running up credit card debt and selling shrimp meant for human consumption for bait because prices are so low. “[Shrimpers] need supplies like ice and diesel. It takes money to get the boat out there,” said Briana Etie. “And if you don’t have a place to sell your shrimp when you get back in, what’s the point?”

Minh Dang, a crew member on the Capt. Johnny II, emigrated from Vietnam fifteen years ago and worked steadily in the shrimp industry until this year. With his income based on a percentage of shrimp sold, fewer trips to sea have taken a toll on his family. “I’ve had to borrow money from friends to pay my mortgage,” he said. “And my wife, who’s never worked before, has had to get a job.”

For the first time in the shrimp industry’s century-old history, governments of five of Texas’ coastal counties—Galveston, Matagorda, Calhoun, Chambers, and Jefferson–have issued shrimp disaster declarations or resolutions, publicly pleading for help. Counties and parishes in the seven other southern shrimping states have also declared shrimp disasters.

The Florida-based Southern Shrimp Alliance, the industry’s primary lobbying organization, has requested help from southern governors and members of Congress. “The U.S. shrimp fishery throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Southeast region is suffering an unprecedented catastrophic crisis that threatens its very existence and the many small family-owned businesses that are at the core of the economies of coastal communities throughout the region.”

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