FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. (AP) 鈥� The seafood industry in southwest Florida is racing against time and the elements to save what鈥檚 left of a major shrimping fleet 鈥� and a lifestyle 鈥� that was battered by Hurricane Ian.
The storm's hurled a couple dozen shrimp boats atop wharves and homes along the harbor on Estero Island. Jesse Clapham, who oversees a dozen trawlers for a large seafood company at Fort Myers Beach, is trying to get boats back to sea as quickly as possible 鈥� before their engines, winches and pulleys seize up from being out of the water.
One of two shrimpers that didn't sink or get tossed onto land went out Sunday, but the victory was small compared with the task ahead.
鈥淭here鈥檚 300 people who work for us and all of them are out of a job right now. I鈥檓 sure they鈥檇 rather just mow all this stuff down and build a giant condo here, but we鈥檙e not going to give up,鈥� said Clapham, who manages the fishing fleet at Erickson and Jensen Seafood, which he said handles $10 million in shrimp annually.
The company鈥檚 fractured wharves, flooded office and processing house are located on Main Street beside another large seafood company, Trico Shrimp Co. There, a crane lifted the outrigger of grounded shrimper Aces & Eights 鈥� the first step toward getting it back in the water. Across the yard, the massive Kayden Nicole and Renee Lynn sat side-by-side in the parking lot, stern to bow.
Shrimping is the largest piece of Florida鈥檚 seafood industry, with a value of almost $52 million in 2016, state statistics show. Gulf of Mexico shrimp from Fort Myers has been shipped all over the United States for generations.
Now, it鈥檚 a matter of when the fishing can resume and whether there will still be experienced crews to operate the boats when that happens.
Deckhand Michele Bryant didn鈥檛 just lose a job when the boat where she works was grounded, she lost her home. Shrimping crews are at sea for as long as two months at a time, she said, so members often don鈥檛 have homes on land.
鈥淚鈥檝e got nowhere to stay,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 living in a tent.鈥�
Richard Brown鈥檚 situation is just as precarious. A citizen of Guyana who was working on a boat out of Miami when Ian hit southwest Florida, Brown rode out the storm on one of four boats that were lashed together along a harbor seawall.
鈥淲e tried to fight the storm. The lines were bursting. We kept replacing them but when the wind turned everybody was on land,鈥� he said.
There鈥檚 no way to catch shrimp on a boat surrounded by dirt, so Brown is staying busy scraping barnacles off the hull of the Gulf Star. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like it鈥檚 on dry dock," he said 鈥� but he鈥檚 no more sure what to do now than at the height of the storm.
鈥淚t was terrifying 鈥� the worst experience,鈥� said Brown, who is more than 2,160 miles (3,480 kilometers) from his home in South America. 鈥淚 was just thinking, 鈥榊ou could abandon the ship.鈥� But where are you going?鈥�
Seafood fleets along the Gulf Coast are used to getting wiped out by hurricanes. pummeled the industry from Louisiana to Alabama in 2005, and the seafood business in southern Louisiana is still recovering from punch last year. But this part of Florida hasn鈥檛 seen a storm like Ian in a century, leaving people to wonder what happens next.
Dale Kalliainen and his brother followed their father into the shrimping business and owns the trawler Night Wind, which landed amid a mobile home park near a bridge. He said high fuel prices and low-cost imported seafood took a bite out of the industry long before Ian did its worst.
鈥淭here used to be 300 boats in this harbor and now there鈥檚 maybe 50,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be probably years before this business is even close to being back to what it was.鈥�
Clapham, the 47-year-old fleet manager, has spent his entire life on shrimp boats. The industry already operates on a thin margin and needs help recovering from Ian, he said.
鈥淭hese boats go out and catch $60,000, $70,000 worth of shrimp a month, but it costs $30,000 to $50,000 to put fuel on them and groceries and supplies, and then you鈥檝e got to pay the crew. And sometimes these boats' (catches) don鈥檛 even pay for everything,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e take money from one boat and get another boat going and send 鈥檈m back fishing just to keep going.鈥�
Jay Reeves, The Associated Press
