Shrimp Season is Late but Strong

South Carolina shrimpers are hauling in a healthy crop this summer despite a harsh winter and a late start to the shrimp season.

The season opened June 15, which was a relief to shrimp farmers, according to WCIV-TV in Charleston.

So far, both the supply and the demand have been steady, according to several local media accounts.

Shrimpers weren't allowed in the water early in the season, and that's when the large white roe shrimp are usually moving, according to Amy Vitrano in an SCNOW.com story. There wasn't much to harvest, so the South Carolina Department of Resources didn't allow shrimping. That angered some shrimpers.

Sales are still strong, however, for the lesser expensive brown shrimp variety. South Carolina's shrimp harvest is worth about $6 million annually, according to a Myrtle Beach Sun News story by Johanna D. Wilson.

For years, Lowcountry shrimpers have struggled in a seafood market flooded with foreign, farm-raised shrimp. Trade groups such as the South Carolina Shrimp Marketing Board, report a 75 percent reduction in business since farm-raised shrimp entered the market.

Shrimpers have often complained that they are hampered by government regulation that limits where they can catch seafood, but now the government may be loosening the rules, according to a recent Associated Press report.

South Carolina's shrimp season runs through December. Later catches are typically white shrimp, a better-quality, higher priced variety, according to South Carolina Shrimp Marketing.

So far this year, fresh shrimp have been selling for $3 to $6 a pound at local seafood markets, though some markets are reporting sellouts this weekend and during the buys Fourth of July weekend.