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May 14, 2013
Shane Cheramie separated the last of the shrimp on his stern-mounted picking box from small silver minnows and croakers, delighting a squadron of gulls as he cast the by-catch into rolling gray waters.
“Not too bad,” said Cheramie, who set out on the opening day of Louisiana’s 2013 spring shrimp season on his new boat, the 22-foot Miss Kayeen, settling on Bay Chaland, north of Terrebonne Bay and east of the Houma Navigational Canal.
With the catch thinning as Monday morning wore into the afternoon, Cheramie headed back to Dulac for fuel. Tuesday would be another day.
Shrimp industry experts say the first day or two of a season are difficult for evaluation purposes in terms of how plentiful the overall catch might be, or how big the shrimp harvested.
May’s full moon, a time when shrimp are on the move and considered easier to catch, was more than a week away. While weather promises to hold up for the season’s first week shrimpers know that anything is possible.
Complaints at the season’s start had more to do with human decisions, however, than nature’s whims.
“They’re pretty unhappy,” Terrebonne Parish shrimp processor and dock owner Kimberly Chauvin said of fishermen she had spoken with Monday and Tuesday, including operators of her family’s fleet of boats.
By opening Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish waters rather than the state as a whole – as the practice has been for many years – wildlife officials have crowded those parishes with boats from those lying east and west, where the season won’t open till next week.
“Either the fishermen are going to have to share what’s in these lakes, making their catches smaller,” Chauvin said. “It’s a double-edged sword.”
The bifurcated opening, Chauvin said, means fishermen from Lafitte, Buras and other ports east of Lafourche will likely bring catches back to those places, rather than sell to local docks.
Archie Paxton Tate, who was shrimping in Bay St. Elaine in Terrebonne Parish, said he would bring his shrimp home to Bogalusa, in far-off Washington Parish, to sell at retail from his garage.
Monday afternoon his catch was large enough to make the trip worthwhile.
But he bemoaned the annual setting of the shrimp season opening on Mondays.
“I go home Tuesday and nobody has money to buy shrimp on Tuesday,” he said.
But processors and dock owners are ready to pay boats that bring home the shrimp, although they weren’t receiving a lot of product by the close of Monday, as fishermen were still trawling and skimming.
Fishermen will have more choices this year than in the past. Those wishing to sell direct to the public are getting help from Louisiana SeaGrant getting the word out about catches.
SeaGrant coordinator Julie Falgout said the program, still in its infancy, is finding favor with many who use it.
“We put the information out on Facebook and a special Web site,” said Falgout, explaining that the name of a boat coming in, the general size of shrimp caught and contact information is provided.
For more information on that program as well as availabilities go to www.laterdirectseafood.com. The “later” refers to Lafourche and Terrebonne.
“We are getting mixed signals about the season opening,” Falgout said. “We should know more later in the week about how everybody is doing.”
Lt. Mike Ledet of the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office Water Patrol said he had spoken with local shrimpers on the water, who also gave him varied accounts of how the season is kicking off.
“I was told by some there was nothing, especially in Lake Boudreaux,” Ledet said. “But south toward Terrebonne Bay they seem to be catching.”
Ledet said that as of Monday evening there were no reports of problems on the water or requests for assistance.
“I’m, hoping everyone is carrying cell phones and keeping them charged,” he said. “And if there is a problem we hope they do call us.”
An early start to the 2013 spring shrimp season in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes drew mixed reviews. Many fishermen said opening this area’s waters rather than the state as a whole created an overcrowded start and smaller catches. “It’s a double-edged sword,” said Kimberly Chauvin, a Terrebonne shrimp processor and dock owner.
