After reading the printout of the diminishing hurricane at Tuckers house, I decided to head north to distribute repellants and stuff to some of the
coastal communities.
I checked in with all my amigos and headed up to a favorite beach for some collecting. Rain started falling and it was getting darker so decided to
head back to my friend Chongos place for some protection/ conversation/beer drinkin to wait out the storm.
Hanging out at Chongos, we hear this loud roar to the south. Agua en el arroyo Chongo says. A huge flash flood from the mountains came through
changing the scenery and road a bit. This means I won't be heading back south today.
So I am taking pictures and Chongo wants me to take a picture of this deer head he has so his son goes to get it.
In the mean time an official looking dude pulls up and wants some people to work.
While we are talking to him, Chongos son comes around the corner with the head and abruptly makes a U-turn. Deer heads are illegal in Mexico. And it
was an official.
Anyways, this official wants the family to go load shrimp for about 3 hours. But, they need a ride up to the place so here I am with a pickup so I
say no problem, I'm sorta stuck anyway and it's way to stormy to fish or collect so off we go to the shrimp operation.
We get up there and I start taking pictures of the operation. No problem as everyone likes the photos and albums I have put together for my friends
down here.
But the shrimp guys are from Sonora and don't really care too much about anything besides loading shrimp and making money. So, I take as many
pictures as I possibly can and then face the music, I have to help.
So, for 4 hours, 10 of us loaded 5 tons of shrimp onto a freezer truck. It was pouring down rain with thunder and lightning, so muddy that shoes
were abandoned, and walking on old pallets in the loading area to stay a little out of the mud.
Everyone was sopping wet, especially when the tarp would give to the weight of the water and take turns dumping on one of us. Made for some fun
moments and hopefully some good pictures.
So, job completed, everyone happy and very very tired, we received our pay for helping. 200 pesos each and probably about 10 kilos of shrimp. One
of the best paychecks I have ever had!
I just hope one of these clowns on here doesn't turn me in for telling this story. After all, I didn't have my shrimp loading FM3
Camarones
mcgyver - 9-5-2004 at 03:18 PM
Great Story jrb! You are hereby fined 5 kilos for unlawful loading! I like mine Boiled! Deliver posthaste!
signed: Selfappointed Baja Game Warden.
Camarones
mcgyver - 9-5-2004 at 03:22 PM
After seeing in sundays grocery ads " Jumbo Shrimp" $13.99 a LB. that is NOT a bad payday!
That's a bit high
academicanarchist - 9-5-2004 at 03:26 PM
I just bought a large bag of shrimp at Sam's club for 6.99/lbBob and Susan - 9-5-2004 at 06:52 PM
academicanarchist
mcgyver is from the San Felipe area.
The shrimp are the size of lobsters there during the season.
Those "Sam's club for 6.99/lb" are about the size of peas when they're cooked.
We haven't been able to find a good shrimp dinner since we ate at that guy's hotel/restraunt up by the lighthouse in San Felipe.
Camarones
mcgyver - 9-5-2004 at 07:10 PM
Bob and Susan, You are right about Gulf shrimp! it is difficult to get them small enough for good boiling shrimp. it is not hard to find them 5 to the
LB. Those are best marinated and BBQed. When in Baja we never eat fish thats dead more than 30 minutes or frozen shrimp. San Felipe giant "Blues" at
the El Dorado flea market were $14 a kilo last year on average.
but if you knew how those shrimp were harvested, it would make you sick
BajaVida - 9-5-2004 at 09:03 PM
dredging the ocean floor, throwing away 100 lbs. of sea life (now dead) for 1 lb. of shrimp is bad
I no longer eat Baja shrimp
Camarones
mcgyver - 9-6-2004 at 04:05 AM
I am entirely familliar with the shrimp business, the Americans raped the Gulf of Mexico and the boats got bigger and bigger and made longer and
longer voyages till they went completly around the world. Americans unable to compete with foreign labor were driven out of it as far as small family
owned boats went, large multinationals took over and are the ones presently involved in all forms of sea rape. The San Felipe giant "Blues" are caught
in drift nets, not on the bottom, and just about anything caught with them are utilized by the fishermen as most of them are not "rich" and any major
outboard motor failure can put them back at the bottom rung as far as earnings go.
The trawlers are out of Sonora and have lots of foreign investment and do lots of damage.
On the mainland around Los Mochis there are shrimp farms in man made lagoons. There are direct flights from there to Japan with beef and seafood.
Most Americans could not afford to eat it at the price they pay for it. Greed for the multinational currency whether it be in Dollars, Pesos or
Euro-Dollars is the driving force of all excessive utilizelation of any resource in this world and your or my consumption of Baja shrimp has no effect
because if we don't some one else will.
BTW The USA had shrimp buyers stationed in Costa Rica in the 1950's and flew shrimp to the states weekly to keep up with the demand of the postwar
boom.
For Vida
jrbaja - 9-6-2004 at 06:44 AM
If you actually knew how those shrimp were harvested, you wouldn't have said that !
But, I don't think I will say anything about it at this time because I would like to hear more on this matter from others as well.
For now, it's my little secret
PS. As far as the pay goes, I was pretty happy with it considering I didn't expect anything besides dinner and a place to stay dry when we were done.
And, most of my "paycheck" is staying here at Tuckers to make up for the lack of Brisket at the party in November
[Edited on 9/6/2004 by jrbaja]
Camarones
mcgyver - 9-6-2004 at 07:49 AM
OK jrbaja, Let us in on the secret?
One method used in the bayous of Louisiana to catch shrimp is the "Trot line method." A small rope of about 1/4' diameter is streched along the bayou
on poles driven into the mud, its suppended about 18" above the water, then about every 10' a large leafy Willow limb is hung off the main line so as
to be submerged. After an hour or 2 you approach the submerged limb in your boat ( usually a "Pirogue") very quitly and slip a large fine mesh dip net
under the limb and raise it from the water and shake the shrimp into the net. I have saw several pounds come from one large limb! These are small
shrimp and a true "Cajun" will pop them in his mouth then and there, in fact they are sometimes called popcorn shrimp. This is the only place I have
ever saw this but have heard that it is done in the Philippine islands also. Maybe you saw it there?
OK, here's a hint
jrbaja - 9-6-2004 at 08:32 AM
They are getting about 150 tons per year without doing any harm whatsoever to the Sea of Cortez.
Actually not the size of peas
academicanarchist - 9-6-2004 at 09:25 AM
Actually, these were pretty good sized jumbo shrimp. I have eaten camarones from the Gulf before.JESSE - 9-6-2004 at 12:41 PM
200 pesos buys you enough cervezas, butter, garlic, and flour tortillas to properly deal with those kilos of shrimp.elizabeth - 9-6-2004 at 01:58 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by jrbaja
They are getting about 150 tons per year without doing any harm whatsoever to the Sea of Cortez.
Are they trap caught? Or are they buying them at Costco!!!! Or catching them in the Pacific???
[Edited on 9-6-2004 by elizabeth]
[Edited on 9-6-2004 by elizabeth]
Camarones
mcgyver - 9-6-2004 at 04:58 PM
E. They are raised in a pond or lagoon like catfish in the states. I have saw the lagoons on mainland Mexico with huge nets over them to keep birds
out. When the shrimp get big enough they just lower the water leavel and scoop them up.
They raise Tuna the same way but inside of huge nets offshore of Ensenada in the open Pacfic.
you mean to tell me the shrimp you buy from a local Baja fisherman is farm raised?
BajaVida - 9-6-2004 at 05:30 PM
I saw a PBS special a few years ago with underwater shots of the trawlers dredging the ocean bottom with lots of road kill.
BajaVida
David K - 9-6-2004 at 05:56 PM
Here is what Max posted to answer your question:
The San Felipe giant "Blues" are caught in drift nets, not on the bottom, and just about anything caught with them are utilized by the fishermen as
most of them are not "rich" and any major outboard motor failure can put them back at the bottom rung as far as earnings go.
Other shrimp from the mainland of Mexico come from farms, is what was said above.
Max (mcgyver) is retired coast gaurd and he probably knows how those boats fish out of San Felipe... just my thinking...??? Bob and Susan - 9-6-2004 at 06:59 PM
We think JR got just enough.....mcgyver - 9-6-2004 at 08:31 PM
Your'e right David, I was refering to jrbaja's question on how they were obtained and I guess they have farms on the Baja side also now.
Bob and Susan, that giant shrimp on your Hummer Bamboo rack is called a Black Tiger shrimp, there are 342 kinds of shrimp. The US & Mexico produces
most of the shrimp consumed in the US, they are White shrimp, Equador produces huge amounts of farm raised White shrimp for the US market also. There
are 3 main types of shrimp,Cold water, Hot water and Freshwater, Freshwater shrimp can weigh several pounds each. I have caught them on a hook by
snaging them in Brazil in the Amazon river up to a pound each, they sell live for big bucks to resturants for display in Lobster tanks.
Yes also on the boats fishing off of San Felipe, there were 13 and sometimes 16 fishing continously at night for about 6 months, I don't see how
anything survived, they went as close to the beach as possible and sometimes 3 or 4 would circle the same spot for hours, then they would move east
out of sight. They make daily radio reports on catch and fuel remaining and so-forth to some one in Guaymas relayed through Puerto Penasco radio.
Although these boats tie up in San Felipe and Puerto Penasco and sell their catch sometimes ,they are from Guaymas and belong mostly to one
mulitinational co. whose logo I haven't been able to decode. I do know that that sweet voiced radio operator in Guaymas would have me headed for port
if she wanted too!! You just have to hear her, her name is Lalay!JESSE - 9-6-2004 at 09:09 PM
Large commercial aquaculture of shrimp has been tried many times unsucessfully in Baja, on the other hand the state of sinaloa across the gulf has a
very large industry of farming shrimp, most baja shrimp is caught in nets on longline fishing boats.
alive and well in sonora
baja rooster - 9-6-2004 at 10:02 PM
What has been described as the worlds largest shrimp farm? is located south of Yuma, Az., and San Luis Rio Colorado. Just north of Santa Clara on the
Gulf it is producing a large amount of shrimp !mcgyver - 9-6-2004 at 10:28 PM
I had not heard of the one south of Yuma but I am not surprised, 75% of the shrimp sold in the USA are farm raised according to the USDA but the farms
are not bragging about it??China grows the most but consumes all of them, Tiawan and the rest of Asia no longer exports shrimp in large amounts, South
Africa has a big boat fleet and grows them and exports some but mainly if its a white shrimp sold in the USA its Mexican.mcgyver - 9-6-2004 at 10:45 PM
There are two "highly successful shrimp farms that I am aware of in Baja. There are probably more that I am not aware of.
My story is about one of these farms. And the dumb gringo in me thought that the shrimps were being offloaded from a trawler that I couldn't see.
Until I noticed the ponds and people working in them collecting the shrimp!
This particular 5 ton batch was headed to Culiacan. In October, there is another 5 tons headed to the states and these will be larger shrimps.
I will post pictures of the operation when I get home but these shrimp were about 3-5 inches long. Pretty dang tasty too!mcgyver - 9-7-2004 at 05:36 PM
jrbaja, I'll bet they fly them to Japan from Culiacan. I was in a very large frozen food department today and I made a point of examining all the
different frozen shrimp, there were 7 brands , 20 different kinds or treatments. I found 1 of Giant Tiger shrimp from Thialand, 1 white from Georgia,
all 5 of the other brands were from Mexico and every one specfied farm raised, I was surprised. The only lobster they had was from South Africa., it
was puny any self respecting Louisiana Crawfish whould have pulled that lobsters claws off!
