http://news.yahoo.com/parasite-depletes-wild-shrimp-haul-off-southeast-atlantic-151424923.html
That’s such a crock. “It is droughts that cause it” “no it’s too much rain. It upsets the shrimp and causes it.” Our scientists are pathetic. They might as well send a bunch of 6th grade science students to do this. I don’t normally rant about that stuff bc there isn’t a thing we (commercial fisherman) can do to make it where we make enough to get through it other than work out tails off. There is something, pollution or a disease that escaped from aquaculture projects, that is causing it and our state won’t admit it. It’s frustrating.
I agree that the rain and pollution have hurt them a lot but so has the black gill just pray for a ce back
grab the gaff and another cold beer
Pollution!!!
Don’t be so quick to throw all scientists under the bus. You know how media loves to misquote their subjects to get a rise. Without scientists you wouldn’t know anything about the parasite at all. Smh. I bet if you asked the scientist they would agree that they don’t know what is the direct cause.
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According to this http://www.islandpacket.com/2013/11/03/2772135/disease-hurting-beaufort-county.html it’s our fault for using fish meal!!
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I hate to poo poo the pollution theory, but this area can’t have as much &@&$ come out of it’s rivers than the Mississippi does, and they never have these kind of problems. Shrimp are everywhere. So much crap comes down that river every year, it creates a dead zone in the GOM. Throw in the deepwater Horizon, and Katrina. I think it does have plenty to do with the weird weather from the last 6/8 years. Two cold as hell winters followed by a non existant winter. All of the rain we had from April-August.
Its all the red fish DNR is stocking eating all the shrimp!
its not pollution it not from the fish meal or white clay. it is disease. It not the weather as we have had cold winters no winters wet years and dry years. we have had everything under the sun and this year we aint got no shrimp. The diseases have finally spread out from where they got out of the ponds to where they have finally crippled the industry. About 1990 something we the shrimpers were protesting pulling Turtle excluder devices in front of the Mendel Rivers building and Auther Ravenel called us all a bunch of jack asses and said pond raised shrimp were going to put us out of business well I reckon he is finally right as the diseases the ponds brought in here is finally putting us out of business. The real jackasses who the state gave the grant money too to grow the shrimp in the ponds have been out of business for yrs so I guess this group of jackasses outlasted that group. and we aint give up the fight yet. I am looking for a lawyer who wants to try to file a lawsuit against the group of jackasses that brought the diseases in our state that have spread to the wild stock
The scientists saying this about the shrimp are the same ones who said Black Sea bass are endangered… I agree that the problem the is disease, and that the disease has come from the ponds in the nineties. I just believe that our state has known about this and how destructive it is for a while now and don’t want to say it. We all could be wrong though. I have heard of the bad years we had in the 70’s and how they came back strong so I know that sometimes nature just does things like this. It’s proboably necissary from time to time. If the “disease from pond” theory is correct, I agree that the state owes us, but I have a hard time believing they will pay up.
DNR doesn’t want to admit the State’s Waddell Micro cultural Center is most at fault for the decline of the shrimp. They have allowed foreign shrimp to escape into our waters! They should not have been allowed to import Foreign species into this state! Their runoff water is full of potential deceases.
Normally I keep my mouth shut and don’t say much (especially where peeps can read and understand), but I can’t hold back anymore…I assume, thru comments made, that most of the people posting these rants are comercial shrimpers? I would also assume none of y’all have ever farmed shrimp? I would also assume ALL comercial shrimpers report ALL of their annual catches to DNR or whoever they need to be reported too? I also assume no commercial shrimper catches ANYTHING other than shrimp too? I would also assume all these commercial shrimpers are experts on EVERYTHING having to do with shrimp and industry? I would therefore assume y’all are…dare I say…Biologists, maybe?( you DO know what assume means, correct? ass…u…me)
LIsten, I enjoy shrimping for the pure enjoyment of shrimping. I enjoy spending time with my friends and family on the water. I also enjoy CATCHING shrimp! I agree, There is a problem! I’m sure the biologists are trying to figure out all the details in order to come up with some sort of solution. Who knows what else.
BUT To blindly start throwing allegations that “shrimp farms” are the SOLE cause of the recent lack of shrimp, I believe, is very narrow minded. As “water men”, “commercial shrimpers”, or what ever phrase is the best to describe the hard working men and women of your industry, you REALLY need to do more research to try and come up with a better hypothisis other than just making a blanket statement.
One last thing then I’m done…wasn’t it the commercial guys who, many years ago, said that the recreational guys were going to put the commercial guys out of bussiness? I think I remember hearing something along those lines…oh, and the rec guys “dumping” ALL THAT meal and clay in the rivers/harbors will kill everything… I think I remember that too…
One last last thing…being that you have a “living” to make, do you not think that one should do what one needs to do in order to provide that living for their family? Hmmmm. If any other business is
We’re still catching the crap out of shrimp and they are mighty tasty. 4 trips so far this year…3 full coolers and one 7/8 full cooler. Going tomorrow night because it’s near the end of the season, virtually no wind…even though the tide is not the best in the world.
I have no idea what you guys are talking about as far as crappy shrimping. I still have good days and bad days, but the good outweighs the bad by far. We’ve always had to work hard to get a full cooler…I havent’ noticied any difference at all in the last 10 years…seriously.
Have you tried putting out bait when you set your poles? 
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All I can say is Dragonmouse is good. As far as the post by baitman the readers of that post need to Google diseases in shrimp and they can see for themselves the harm aquaculture does to the wild stocks when they drain the water with the diseases into the wild. Research the records of the shrimp farm industry in South Carolina and you will see how many problems they had with disease. Getting back to Draggonmouse saying hs has not seen any change in 10 yrs. well I keep notes and in 2009 there were 98 baiters on ashe island side of St Helena sound. this year there were less than 20.
DNR has landings and this Sept. Was about 6 per cent of last year. One factor not showing in their records is we don’t have the out of state trawlers here this season because their ain’t enough shrimp in the offshore waters for them to come for.
I don’t have a clue as to how old you people are but I have lived right here on the ashepoo river and Mosquito creek for 57 years and I have seen dramatic changes in the shrimp around here. We used to catch med shrimp right off our dock in the 90’s now we catch shrimp barely big enough for a hook if any. We had baiters lined up right outside of the mouth of Mosquito creek catching med to large shrimp now all you catch out there are bait size shrimp. When I moved into my house in 1981 I caught 26-30 tails right off the bank now all I catch is bait.
Some more examples of change is license sales. DNR went from selling 1400 trawl license in the 80’s to less than 400 last time I checked. they went from selling 13-14 thousand bait license to less than 6 or 7 thousand last time I looked. so if Draggonmouse aint seen any difference he is GOOD.
As far as where the problem come from we don’t know and will probably never know but we definitely have a problem. Hopefully mother nature will fix it. Everyone thought the oil spill was going to kill the gulf of mexico and they are having a super good season down there this year.
Aint no shrimp cause I caught htem all.
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Thanks rb. My buddy’s brother went out Monday early afternoon and coolered out on nice size shrimp in less than 2 hours. I don’t know. Maybe where we shrimp isn’t being affected by all of the other factors. We are a few miles from the ocean and it is kind of protected so, who knows. It’s just one of those things.
I can’t speak for others but, I have plenty of shrimp in the freezer to get me through to next year.
I’d love to come hang out on your dock sometime and whistle and drink a cold one with you sometime.
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I think that bulls bay has the least amount of run off of freshwater In SC. Winyah, Charleston, and the Beaufort area have a lot of water coming through, but I still think catches were low for that area too. It seems like the shrimp everywhere got to 36-40 size and vanished. At the end of September I caught 300lbs of 36-40’s in st Helena in three hours with a 42 ft net. Pretty awesome shrimping for a small boat. 4 days later only caught 80lbs and 3 days later 10 shrimp for a whole hour long drag. Since that time it has been aweful. I’m in Charleston and would prefer to stay here to drag but went to bulls and St. Helena just trying to make enough to make it worth it… Hope it gets better.
From what I hear from my fellow shrimpers down here it has been a little better the last week. I have spine surgery on Oct 21 and have not been out. slipped getting on boat and ruptured a disc. But Still when there is only one trawler dragging Otter Island and dragging until dark for 8 or 10 baskets that really aint nothing compared to when we had 20 large trewlers out there in the same area and we were getting more than that on a 3 hr trawl in the 90’s. there definitely has been dramatic decrease in shrimp populations around here.
To add some input to the red leg conversation. We commercial guys say the red legs are traveling shoes. Back in the 80’s the DNR did tagging studies and shrimp tagged in the Coosaw would be off Bruinswick in 3 days on the big tides when they had red legs. They actually caught shrimp tagged in the sound here down off Cape Canaveral in less than a week.
But the shrimp also turn red at night and I don’t think this always means they are moving offshore. It could mean they are moving from the deep to the shallow. When the water gets clear the shrimp move in the deep in the daytime and at night they move into the shallow to feed.
Monday will be 4 wks since surgery and I plan to go out then. I am looking forward to getting off the pain meds where i can take a drink with some alcohol in it.
It’s official!!! Everything on the internet IS true! There’s an article found on Google that says Elvis has been spotted!
I just deleted about 5 paragraphs or so making observations and statements about yet another blanket statement made about aquaculture, which relates to any “farmed” item…till I finally realized something. All statements made have just been opinions. (I think I addressed opinions in my earlier opinionated statements) So with this said, I guess were all doomed! No more recreational shrimping…commercial shrimpers will be “forced” out of work…and Obama Care will heal us all!
Oh, did I ever mention… 1) in the few shrimp I caught this season black gill was not near as prevalent as in the past 2 or 3? And 2) the farm raised shrimp in my freezer (which came from my family’s AQUACULTURE facility…How awful!!!) there was not a single black gill, black spot, pink head, red leg, or anything. JEEZ!!! HOW COULD THAT BE???
Tight lines, full nets, blah blah blah. Google? Maybe it’s their fault?
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Oh, 1 more thing! Dragonmouse…great job on puttin dem dare wata bugz in da feeza! I mite need to be fo go wit chu nex yeer!
10 months and counting!
“NICE REPORT” LIKKA LOGGA
MY HERO!!!