High diesel prices force some Gulf shrimpers to stay docked

A large white-and-blue fishing boat sits idle at the Brownsville Fishing Harbor, on the Gulf where Texas meets Mexico.

But local fishermen aren’t out on the water. They’re sitting around. One of them is Juan Mendez.

“The price of shrimp is low and fuel is high,” Mendez said in Spanish.

It’s just not profitable to take the boat out to fish shrimp that are only going for about $4 a pound, he said. He’s gone out fishing just once this season.

Mendez lives in Nicaragua but works as a shrimper in Texas on a visa — work he’s done for nearly a decade. But now, he said shrimpers like him are thinking about going back home because there’s no money here.

“There’s no fishing work, which is what we came to do,” Mendez said.

Near the docks is Texas Gulf Trawling, a shrimping company here in Brownsville with 14 boats. Most are just sitting around, said manager Greg Londrie. And the boats that are out to sea are operating on fuel they bought before prices rose.

“Because we just can't afford the current diesel price coinciding with the current price of shrimp,” Londrie said.

Diesel is the single largest expense for the boat. He said filling up once could cost around $85,000.

But conditions were tough even before diesel prices went up roughly 70%, because of the war with Iran and attacks on Russian refineries. Over the years, the Gulf shrimping fleet has shrunk considerably, now whittled down to fewer than 2,400 boats.

“It's a long-standing problem, and it's just getting worse,” said Christopher Liese, an economist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Even though Americans eat a ton of shrimp, most of it is imported for cheap from abroad.

“Ninety-five percent of the shrimp consumed is imported, and the other 5% is local-caught,” Liese said.

It’s a bad year for an industry that’s been shrinking and struggling with profitability.

“When a crisis hits, and fuel prices go up, or the shrimp price collapses, then that's when people actually have to leave the industry. They just can't keep going,” he said.

But third-generation shrimper Kyle Kimball is still bringing home some catches this season. He’s based in Port Arthur, on the border of Texas and Louisiana.

“I worked with my grandfather when I was five, and I can remember picking and driving and everything,” Kimball said.

He loves it out on the water and has had his own vessel for about 45 years. He’s been able to shrimp some this season because his boat uses less diesel per hour than a lot of other shrimpers.

“I'm one of the cheapest boats to operate at 11 gallons an hour,” Kimball said. But that’s still $65 an hour or so, just for fuel.

“It took me 50% of my catches last time to pay for the crew and fuel. Before, it used to take me 20%,” he said.

High diesel prices only add to his worries about the future of the Gulf shrimp industry that’s shrinking and aging.

“Young [men] don't have a chance,” he said.

His wife, Tricia Kimball with the Port Arthur Area Shrimpers Association, said it’s hard to recruit young people into an industry in decline.

“They're just not going to do that if you're making negative money. That's not a real enticement,” Tricia Kimball said.

But for now, Kyle Kimball — who is in his sixties — is hanging on. He loves his job, he said. Diesel and shrimp prices be damned.

“The wear and tear from 63 on up is really bad. But I don't know, it gets in your blood. It's hard to explain that you can't just quit,” he said.