2/24/16 FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS EAT IMPORTED SHRIMP

We are now beievers!  In Wild-caught shrimp, that is!

We learned a great deal this afternoon at a tour at Brownsville, TX at Texas Gulf Trawling, LLC.

Texas Gulf Trawling operates a fleet of 15 shrimp boats.  In the early 2000's there were 25 boats but a combo of high fuel and low shrimp prices forced the sale of ten boats.

The emphasis of the tour is to know about and buy "Wild Caught" shrimp; of course, from the USA.  All packages of shrimp-only must be labeled with Country of Origin.  "Farm Raised" shrimp is other countries have little enforced standards/regulations and antibiotics are used.

The vice president of Texas Gulf Trawling says to even ask the waiter at your favorite restaurant who won't know, then the manager who might know, or the chef who should know where the shrimp comes from that is being used.  Questions are the best way to educate the consumer and the provider.

During the shrimping season a crew of 3 (and up to 6) are out for 30-50 days.  Shrimping is done at night.  The "heading" (or de-heading" is done by hand, on board the ship.  During high season up to 3000 pounds are caught per night.

BTW: all shrimp are instantly frozen on board the shrimp trawler.  There's no such thing as "fresh" shrimp.  Freezing the shrimp keeps it hydrated and guarantees freshness.

 We were able to tour this trawler.

 The "header" manually removing the heads from the shrimp from a seated position --on the floor on the very short stool.

 The best ever peel n eat shrimp were served after the tour.

In the small world category, we were able to meet with Jeff's aunt and uncle for lunch at Joe's Oyster Shack in Port Isable.  The aunt and uncle live in the Kansas City area and are in the area for a few days.