Shrimpers keep their fingers crossed for the upcoming season

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - It was a busy morning at the Biloxi Small Craft Harbor. Fishermen and shrimpers were getting ready for the 2019 Blessing of the Fleet while selling whatever fresh seafood they managed to catch overnight.

“Jumbo shrimp are $4 a pound. How many do want?” asked one of the women selling shrimp on the back of her boat.

As their boats pass along the water for a blessing from the priest, the people who make their living out on the water hope for some divine intervention.

"Right now there is too much fresh water. No shrimp,” said Lien Nguyen.

Nguyen said when her husband goes out to catch fish or shrimp, casting their nets is a game of chance now.

“Sometimes my husband, he goes somewhere and gets lucky,” Nguyen said. “He went to Louisiana last month or last week, and there were no shrimp.”

Some of the fish and shrimp the Nguyens were selling off their boats were caught off the Alabama coast. They, along with many other fishermen, are not seeing their nets overflowing with seafood.

With the freshwater intrusion, which some are saying is due to the Bonnet Carre’ spillway being opened, fishermen are a little concerned about this season’s harvest, but they aren’t taking an alarmist standpoint, at least not yet.

The Department of Marine Resources is monitoring the development of shrimp. It will announce when the Mississippi shrimp season will open.

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