Farms add to SC shrimp harvest

Not every shrimp from South Carolina was caught in a net in the state's waterways.

About 20 percent of the shrimp from the state are raised on farms in specially designed ponds.

Rick Eager, who serves on the board of directors for the S.C. Shrimp Growers Association, said seven shrimp-farming facilities are operating along the state's coast. The industry harvests about 1 million pounds of shrimp each year.

Shrimp farming began in South Carolina in 1981. The industry grew to nearly two dozen operations, but it has fallen to about a half-dozen as the price for shrimp has dropped.

The shrimp farmers are facing the same challenge as commercial trawls -- cheap imported shrimp brings the wholesale price of all shrimp down.

Eager said when he started his shrimp-farming business in 1993, he was getting about $3.50 a pound. That has decreased to about $1.60 a pound.

The same trend is true for the 381 state-licensed commercial shrimp trawlers. S.C. Department of Natural Resources statistics show the price shrimpers were paid per pound fell from $3.99 in 2000 to $2.19 in 2003.

Commercial trawlers catch about 3.5 million pounds of shrimp each year.

Ray Rhodes, a DNR resource economist, said the farm-raised shrimp in the state were worth about $1.8 million in 2002, the last year with available data. The commercial wild shrimp were worth about $8.5 million in 2003.

"I would say (shrimp farming is) a small commercial industry," Rhodes said. "It's just another way for our state ... to help diversify the agriculture portfolio of products we raise in this state."

Barbara Hudson, owner of Benny Hudson Seafood on Hilton Head Island, said she won't sell farm-raised shrimp at her store because they just aren't the same as those out of the ocean.

"I think it's better if they are grown in the wild," said Hudson, who thinks the wild shrimp taste better. "I think it's a purer product if it's out of the ocean."

Dana Dunkelberger, owner of Palmetto Aquaculture Corp., said the farmers and trawlers don't need to compete because there is more demand for shrimp in South Carolina than the two industries combined can supply.

BY JESSICA FLATHMANN, The Island Packet
Published Saturday, August 28th, 2004