About 250 shrimp boats ply the Georgia coast in search of the prized white crustaceans served in Atlanta’s finest restaurants and shops. A decade ago, twice as many did.
Global competition eviscerated Georgia’s shrimp industry. But 2013 was to be the year, with disease ravaging Asian fish ponds and prices nearing all-time highs, that Georgia shrimpers would turn the tide.
It isn’t happening. In a cruel twist, Georgia shrimp too are blighted by a disease that’s hitting upwards of 40 percent of a fisherman’s underwater crop. Georgia shrimpers are expected to seek federal disaster assistance.
“My shrimper buddies are all saying they haven’t seen a year like this in 20 or 30 years,” said Timmy Stubbs, a shrimper in Brunswick who supplies Georgia whites to upscale Atlanta restaurants. “It doesn’t make any difference what the price is. They’re not catching anything.”
Asia’s shrimp industry vs. Georgia’s
Georgia landed 2.5 million pounds of shrimp off its 100-mile coastline last year, down 50 percent from a decade before, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources.
Asia, though, produces 90 percent of the shrimp gracing American restaurants and seafood counters. Raised in fish “farms” — closed-in ponds along the coasts of Thailand, China and Vietnam — Asian farmers go mostly for quantity over quality.
This year, though, they’re going for survival. Early Mortality Syndrome disease decimated Asian imports to the U.S. and sent prices soaring. The White Shrimp Index, kept by Urner Barry, a food industry publisher, hit $5.99 a pound on Oct. 10 — the highest price in at least a decade.
“For shrimp, it’s been a disaster worldwide this year,” said Bill Demmond, who owns Inland Seafood, the Southeast’s largest seafood distributor.
Are Georgia shrimp still safe to eat?
Black gill is the bane of many a Georgia shrimper. The parasite, which has been responsible for infecting up to 90 percent of a shrimper’s haul this year, blackens the crustacean’s head. Nobody can say with certainty — chemical runoff, too much rain, fish meal — what causes black gill, but the bugger is unquestionably harming this fall’s crop.
Shrimp, like shrimpers and shrimp lovers, want nothing to do with black gill, which was first discovered more than a decade ago and now lurks in the waters off Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. Shrimp will shed their shells to get rid of the parasite, an exhausting and unhealthy disrobing that leaves them vulnerable to predators.
Shrimp survive black gill’s pernicious attack. Fishermen, though, will snap off the heads before selling them. Upscale restaurants and markets prefer the heads on to show the health and freshness of a recent catch.
The taste and safety of the product isn’t much affected, though.
“We were on an early October cruise sampling the shrimp, some with 60 percent black gill,” said Marc Frischer, a marine scientist at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah. “Nobody got sick. They were yummy.”
What’s the impact on consumers?
Demmond, owner of Inland Seafood, said Georgia and South Carolina shrimp are 40 percent more expensive than a year ago. Whole Foods Markets has raised the price of its Georgia shrimp by $1 a pound. It costs $17.99 for a pound of 16-20 count shrimp at the upscale grocery store.
The Optimist, one of Atlanta’s high-end dining establishments, is feeling the pain of the higher shrimp price, as will its customers. The $12 signature peel-and-eat shrimp with comeback sauce may soon cost as much as $15.
“But it’s still worth it,” said Optimist chef Adam Evans.
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