For years, area shrimpers have viewed a full-service processing
plant in the state as a potential savior for the limping
industry; it could help reduce transportation and production
costs and get locally harvested product back into area restaurants
and groceries.
DeMarco said financing for the project is mostly in place,
and the plant should be completed by the start of the commercial
shrimp harvesting season in June 2007.
“The state’s on board, the shrimping association
is on board, and most of the shrimpers are on board,”
he said. “If everyone works together, it’s common
sense that this thing will work.”
Tonya Hudson-DeSalve, who manages the retail portion of
Benny Hudson Seafood on Hilton Head Island, is optimistic
the processing plant will breathe new life into the flagging
industry and help struggling shrimpers fetch better prices
for their harvests.
“I’ve got shrimpers falling by the wayside
left and right,” she said. “Most of these guys
are barely breaking even, and many of them are losing money
with the higher price of fuel and the low cost of imports.”
Imported, farm-raised shrimp makes up an estimated 80 percent
to 90 percent of shrimp consumed in the United States. Most
of that shrimp is farm-raised, so overseas producers have
been able to undercut domestic prices because they’re
not saddled with costs like boat maintenance, rising fuel
prices and uneven harvests.
In effect, bulk shrimp prices have fallen as much as $3
to $4 per pound over the last five years, according to the
shrimpers association.
Industry officials in the state hope that consolidating
all local product at a local processor and distributor will
encourage restaurateurs and grocers to pay higher prices
for certified shrimp harvested in area waters.
“I would hope it could help bump up prices and help
distributing this local product, which we all think is so
much better than the imports you see served at so many restaurants
on Hilton Head,” Hudson-DeSalve said. “I’m
really excited for (the meeting). It’s the first great
thing we’ve heard in years.”
Frost is a reporter for The (Hilton Head) Island Packet,
a McClatchy newspaper
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