The Key West Citizen

Let's Act In Time To Save Our Shrimp From Extermination

Experience is supposed to be rated as a good teacher, and so it is to most of us, but some people neither profit by experience nor anything else.

Key Westers have had an abundance of experience in thoughtless ravages that led to extermination. At one time green turtles were plentiful in the waters of the Florida Keys, but, year in and year out, turtles were not only harpooned and netted, but also were depleted by robbing of eggs their nests in the beaches.

The Florida legislature passed a law prohibiting the robbing of turtle nests, but the law came too late—green turtles in our waters were practically exterminated. We get our turtles now from Central American waters.

What happened to the turtle came near happening to our stone crab. Fact is, the stone crab in our waters is so rare it is seldom obtainable. Twenty-seven years ago the legislature passed a law providing for a closed season for stone crabs and imposing a penalty for catching a crab with eggs at any time. But that law was almost too late. Stone crabs at one time sold for 50 to 75 cents a dozen in Key West; now they are $12 a dozen, and most of the time you can't get them at that price.

But one law was passed in time to save our crawfish. That law was supplemented by establishing crawfish hatcheries in Key West. Crawfish are plentiful now, but they are still protected by that law.

In view of those experiences, it should be an easy matter for us to save our shrimp industry by having the legislature pass a law prohibiting the catching of baby shrimp. Berlin Felton, past president of the Southeastern Fisheries Association, started a movement to protect our shrimp industry, and has been accorded the support of the Key West Chamber of Commerce and the Monroe County Commission.

The idea is to have a law passed to stop catching shrimp that exceed 50 to the pound. Felton points out that it is not difficult to abide by the provision of the law. Local shrimpers, he says, are aware that the bulk of baby shrimp is in the vicinity of Dry Tortugas, 60 miles west of Key West. Let the shrimpers keep away from those beds. As an additional security against hauling baby shrimp, Felton advocates the enlarging of meshes in the nets.

He produces figures to prove that destroying small shrimp already has had an adverse effect on the local shrimp industry. Last year, 13 million pounds of shrimp were brought to local markets, whereas this year the catch thus far, in comparison with 1955 up to this date, is only one-half of what it was last year.

Stiff penalties for catching undersized shrimp will be provided for in the proposed law.

Let us act in time to save our shrimp industry.