Up Close: Foreign shrimp farms leave shrimpers high and dry

12:37 PM CDT on Sunday, May 29, 2005

By Angela Kocherga / 11 News Mexico Bureau

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Shrimp has now passed tuna as America's favorite seafood. You might think that's good news for Gulf Coast shrimpers, but many are struggling to survive. Most of the shrimp we eat these days isn't caught the old-fashioned way -- it's raised on farms, mostly in foreign countries.

"Hi. We have whole shrimp, peeled shrimp."

Pete and Clara's stand at this New Orleans farmer's market sells some of the freshest seafood you can find.

"It's locally caught," says Pete Gerica.

He catches his shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico -- just as his father and grandfather did before him. It's more than family

business, it's a way of life -- one that's now threatened as the industry experiences a sea change.

Enrique Diaz relies on science not the sea for his shrimp. He owns one of Mexico's most advanced shrimp farms nestled on the Pacific Coast near Mazatlan.

Hatcheries provide the stock for Diaz' 16 ponds. This one selects the best mates to produce the largest, healthiest shrimp.

You might think of the hatchery as a giant shrimp maternity ward. This is where the female shrimp come to spawn, laying, on average, 300,000 eggs each. Of course, all of those eggs won't reach maturity -- much less end up as shrimp on our dinner table.

Fresh seawater is pumped into ponds where this time of year young shrimp are just beginning to grow.

"We monitor our water quality, shrimp quality, sanitation issues," Enrique Diaz explained.

Farms offer an abundant supply of the shrimp Americans crave. Diaz expects his ponds to produce nearly 300,000 tons of shrimp this fall. He'll sell nearly half of that to the U.S.

This Mexican farmer knows struggling Gulf Coast shrimpers blame foreign farms like his for driving down the price. It's fallen by a third since 2001, although restaurants prices continue to climb.

"Somebody is getting greedy there and we need to find out who and try to work out something to make an even profit," says Diaz.

Still, the Southern Shrimp Alliance says the impact of cheap imported shrimp cannot be overestimated. Asia is the largest source of cheap farm-raised shrimp in the world.

Shrimp farms are forcing many Gulf Coast shrimpers -- who for g enerations lived off their catches -- to dock their boats for good.

"They're falling out and there's nothing you can do to save them," says shrimper Pete Gerica.

Gerica's family survives by eliminating the middle man and selling directly to consumers.

"It's a great product. It's right there. It's right off the boat," said Kristin Essig, a New Orleans chef.

U.S. shrimpers are counting on shoppers like Essig, who teaches cooking classes. She only buys wild caught and is

willing to pay more.

Thanks to new mandatory labeling, consumers can check to see if the shrimp they're buying is wild caught or farm-raised and the country of origin.

It might save some American shrimpers. But it's too late to reverse the trend. Most of the shrimp we eat: no longer comes from the sea.