Some shrimpers appear to be trying to get a head start on Tuesday’s opening of shrimp season, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which has confiscated around 1,300 pounds of shrimp illegally obtained off the coast of Georgia in the last week.
Around 4 a.m. Thursday approximately 600 pounds of shrimp valued at around $4,500 were sized by DNR officials, and the captain and two crew members were cited with fishing in closed waters.
And DNR officials say 708 pounds of shrimp at a value of $3,577.65 were illegally obtained around 3:30 a.m. Saturday by three commercial shrimpers who were trawling for shrimp at night off Ossabaw Island, when the fishery is not open, and before commercial shrimp season, which starts Tuesday.
Keeping night fishing off limits is intended to prevent larger ships from shrimping 24 hours a day and depleting the population, said Sgt. Mark Carson from the law enforcement department of the DNR.
Carson said the siezed shrimp were sold and the money is being held in escrow until a court decision regarding the captain is reached. The money will go to the state’s general fund if the captain is found guilty.
Shrimp season, which ended last year on December 31, designates the legal time of year for commercial and recreational shrimpers to harvest white shrimp, one of the biggest staples of Georgia’s seafood industry.
Carson said illegal fishing in state waters happens frequently — more frequently this year than in previous years, and as a result the DNR is now doing “concentrated patrols.”
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