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Published on 11/24/1999 All articles from this issue

Nothing fishy about the shrimp industry, Los Altans discover

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By Leslie K. Martin

Town Crier Staff Writer

In October, Los Altos residents Sigmund and Shirley Rich traveled to the Gulf of Mexico for an Elderhostel program with 33 others to learn about shrimp trawling.

"I'm not going to complain about the price of shrimp anymore. When I saw what it takes to produce it, I'm very respectful," said Shirley, 81, who is an active member of the League of Women Voters.

Sigmund, 83, a practicing veterinarian who cares for research animals, has long been interested in aquaculture. "We've learned quite a bit from experimenting with fish," he said. "For example, how come fish can get enough oxygen out of the water? Experiments have shown that fish can modify the oxygen, as in hemoglobins."

The shrimp industry in the Gulf is currently in a recession, Sigmund said. But that's happened in the past, too.

"The place was interesting. A small, half-shut-down town on the Gulf," Shirley said. "The only industry that keeps the town going is shrimping."

The trip and course were sponsored by the Texas A&M University Sea Grant program. It included a boat ride to Matagorda Bay and visits to shrimp farms and a processing plant, where shrimp are cleaned, beheaded and frozen in 5-pound packets in huge freezers.

The Riches learned about the life cycles and flavor characteristics of bay and gulf shrimp.

Local fisherman in the bay go fishing for the day and return with their catch that night. Gulf trawlers, worked mostly by Vietnamese, carry ice with them so they can stay out to sea for up to two months at a time, returning with the shrimp frozen and already packaged.

The trawlers average 321 days a year at sea. The hours are long, the work hard.

One of the most interesting things he learned, Sigmund said, was that shrimp can be thawed and frozen several times without negative effect, because shrimp lack several enzymes which cause spoilage.

What the Riches learned about the shrimp industry was encouraging, Sigmund said. "There are a lot of half-truths and myths associated with commercial and fish farming. The fisherman do protect other species. They know enough about the animals, the process, distribution, seafood consumer affairs, weather conditions and environments. I'm encouraged to know that I, and my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, will still be eating fish from the Gulf."

And that isn't a fish tale.