Shrimpers Optimistic for Strong Season

MAYPORT VILLAGE, FL -- As more jobs are drying up onshore, more and more old-school shrimpers are returning to the coastal docks looking for employment.

Mayport Shrimpboat Captain Charlie Durand knows the business is a matter of experience and luck. "It's hit or a miss any more," says Durand.

"You've just got to be in the right spot, or hope you're in the right spot. And if you're not, you're probably not going to do a whole lot." added Durand.

For nearly 30 years, Durand has navigated the waterways off the Mayport shores, and navigated the pitfalls of life as a shrimper.

The hours are long, the work is dangerous and difficult, and he often runs two to three days straight.

"Staying awake as long as we do and trying not to get hurt," are the goals, according to Durand.

A number of captains never made it from the dock Tuesday. But Captain Charlie Durand was the first to return to the dock with the pink gold in his hold.

"We caught a few shrimp; about a thousand pounds. But it's over with, so we're back in," said a smiling Durand.

With methodical precision, the harvest is loaded into buckets in the ship's hold nearly 50 pounds at a time.

The buckets are then winched up and around the dock of Safe Harbor Seafood's fish house, where the shrimp are then dumped in waiting tanks for processing and sale.

For Captain Durand and his crew, it was a good start in the wake of last year's expenses.

"The fuel about wrecked us last year," said Durand.

"We barely made it through that, but fuel's back down (in price). Hasn't changed much!"

His hopes, like those of so many of his fellow shrimpers, are for a good late summer catch, when the smaller brown breeding shrimp, or "brownies," are replaced by the plump, large white shrimp.

"We need a good white season, where the brownies don't pay much. They're kind of small," said Durand.

"So we've got to wait on the white shrimp, which will be August."

"We love what we do. We just love to be free and go to work, (to be able to) pay your bills!"

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