Increasing Imports = Vanishing nets: Area shrimpers sail on despite rising costs

No one would have predicted the demise of the Lowcountry’s most iconic industry just a few decades ago. Back then, the Gay’s dock would fill up with trawlers forming a city of lights each morning before dawn. “There would be dozens of shrimp boats all lined up, all lit up getting ready to work,” Gay said. “Now if you see two or three shrimp boats together it’s really something to see.” The problem, Gay said, isn’t that there are fewer shrimp off the SC coast. And it isn’t that demand for shrimp is down. Rather, foreign shrimpers have moved in to meet the demand, flooding the market with their shrimp and driving down prices. Most shrimp eaten in America today come from farms in Asia rather than trawlers off the coast hired by the Gays and other local families. Read the rest here 09:27:47

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