PORT OF BROWNSVILLE  -  Like hunters anxiously awaiting the start of deer season, shrimp boats from Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi recently converged near the mouth of the Rio Grande along the southern Gulf Coast.

They were there to join local shrimpers for the opening of the Texas shrimp harvest season, according to Tony Reisinger, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agent for coastal and marine resources in Cameron County.

The shrimping business is competitive, financially risky and highly dangerous for crew members, Reisinger said, as he boarded vessels to help shrimpers stay compliant with federal rules and regulations.

Texas shrimp season opens amid heavy competition

"The traffic of shrimp boats trawling out there in the Gulf will be extremely heavy," he said. "The payoff can be big if the catch is large and market prices are high, but the investment is very steep. And commercial fishing is the second most dangerous occupation, next to logging."

In the last 10 years, 55 men have died in the U.S. on shrimp boats, most of whom were thrown overboard, Reisinger said.

"Regardless of what you see on 'Deadliest Catch,' shrimping has the highest mortality rate of all commercial fishing endeavors. Between February and October, the Gulf waters can be very rough."

This year's Texas shrimp season started 30 minutes after sundown July 15 and ends May 15, 2015, Reisinger said.

Early reports say shrimping so far is "good," with nightly catches of some 2,000 pounds, Reisinger said. It's a testament to the yearly eight-week shrimping moratorium.

"The closed, two-month off-season allows shrimp to migrate in and out of bays and estuaries so they can grow and rebuild their populations before they swim back out into the Gulf," he said.

The practice keeps shrimping in Texas sustainable, Reisinger said.

"Closing the Gulf to shrimping for two months yearly is something only Texas does, and they are able to do it very successfully thanks to the efforts of Texas Parks and Wildlife, which closes shrimping in state waters, some 9 miles out, and by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, which closes federal waters some 200 miles out."

In the weeks leading up to the opening of the season, Reisinger met with dozens of shrimp boat owners in the Port Isabel/Brownsville basins, helping them avoid costly fines and penalties by state and federal officials.

The day before the season opened, Reisinger was helping Preston Hance, whose family owns and operates 14 vessels. Hance operates two of them, the Riocello and the Miss Opal.

"One of the best ways I can help these shrimpers is to make sure they are compliant with laws regarding turtle excluder devices, which keeps sea turtles that are on the Endangered Species Act from being caught in shrimp nets," Reisinger said. "Any shrimp boats caught with turtle excluder devices that don't meet specifications can have their catch of shrimp confiscated and the owner fined $10,000."

The turtle excluder devices, or TEDS, became mandatory in the late 1980s, Reisinger said. They are sewn into the nets and are designed to allow shrimp to pass through, but turtles hit the grates of the device and tumble out of the net. There are smaller, triangular-shaped fish excluding devices that must also be compliant.

"The TEDS have to meet exact measurements and hang at just the right angle or the turtles will drown," he said. "And they work. Since they were implemented, I've never seen or heard of a shrimp boat that accidentally caught a turtle."

While important, Hance had lots more on his mind than turtle excluder devices, namely the high cost of diesel fuel and the forecast for the season.

"Diesel fuel is our biggest expense," Hance said. "One of my boats holds 12,500 gallons, the other 18,000. So fuel, at about $3 per gallon, costs $37,500 for one boat and $54,000 for the other."

Hance's wife, Andrea, is the executive director of the Texas Shrimp Association. Based on observations by the NOAA, her organization informed shrimpers to expect a lower than normal harvest this year.

"The harvest of brown shrimp in the western Gulf of Mexico will be 53.2 million pounds, which is slightly below the historical 52-year average of 56.5 million pounds," she reported.

That includes shrimp catches in state and federal waters off Louisiana and Texas, the report states. The Louisiana share is expected to be 29.7 million pounds; the Texas portion of the catch is predicted to be 23.5 million pounds.

"We really won't know what the catch will be until we get out there and test it out," Preston Hance said. "What I do know is that 40 percent of our total income for the year will be made in the first 45 days of shrimping. Our crews on both vessels will be 'clocking,' which means working 24 hours a day. Of a five-man crew per boat, somebody is always at the wheel, so four men will be working for three weeks non-stop. They'll take quick cat naps when necessary, then right back at it."

With 15,000 gallons of fuel and enough food to last 45 days, Hance's boats will be looking to fill their holds of shrimp before they come back in.

"A shrimp boat will hold 42,000 pounds of shrimp, but they may come in after hauling in 30,000 to 40,000 pounds," he said. "It usually takes 20 to 25 days to get that, but some seasons it will take longer."

Once a boat captain radios in that he's ready to return to harbor and offload shrimp, Hance starts shopping around for the highest bidder.

"I'll market what we've caught to seven or eight wholesale buyers," he said. "They'll fax me their bids, different prices for different size shrimp, and we'll pick from those offers."

Like farmers, shrimpers keep a close eye on the fluctuating world market prices for their commodity, Reisinger said. Those prices are influenced by a wide range of factors, including the demand for shrimp at the recent World Cup soccer games in Brazil, Reisinger said.

"Buyers usually drop their prices as the Texas shrimp season opens, but I don't think they will this year," he said. "Prices are averaging $9 per pound for large shrimp, and we're now hoping for an average of $6 per pound this season for all size shrimp."

Andrea Hance's bulletin to shrimpers in her association noted that several factors were helping world shrimp prices rebound, including lower production in Mexico, an increased demand in Central America and Taiwan, lower European and U.S. inventories, plus the demand from bars and restaurants worldwide stocking up on "shrimp, the king of appetizers," to sell to hungry World Cup soccer fans.

"My prediction is that prices will show a strong, upward trend over the summer," she wrote.

Reisinger noted a long-standing relationship between AgriLife Extension and Texas A&M's Texas Sea Grant and shrimpers along the Gulf Coast.

"Domestic production, both farming and wild shrimp, in the U.S. produces only 10 percent of our consumption," he said. "The remaining 90 percent comes from foreign production, usually shrimp farms, and a lot of that is often rejected by the U.S. for having been produced with hormones and other substances that are illegal here.

"Shrimping can be a lucrative business that helps our state economy, but it's a very competitive and risky business, so Texas A&M does all it can to keep our Texas shrimpers competitive."

Reisinger also noted the development by Texas A&M over the years of more efficient shrimp boat equipment, including lighter rigs and netting, which has helped shrimpers reduce fuel consumption and improve their bottom lines.