As Fresh as They Get

The overwhelming majority of shrimp sold in the United States, whether domestic wild-caught or imported farm-raised, are frozen at the source, soon after capture. The delicate creatures deteriorate faster than other seafoods.

"There are two kinds of shrimp: frozen and rotting. Freezing makes for better quality," says John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, which represents shrimpers and processors in eight East Coast and Gulf states. Shrimp freeze well. But in the marketplace, fresh is always considered superior.

The total wild catch, in 2006 a near-record harvest of 300 million pounds, is nowhere close to what we throw on the grill. Nearly 90 percent of all shrimp consumed in the United States is farm-raised and imported from more than 24 countries. Imports totaled more than 1.1 billion pounds last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Most commercial shrimp farms are in coastal areas and consist of a series of large ponds, many made by clearing and damming mangrove swamps or dredging clear-cut forest lands, creating a host of environmental problems.Water quality is often an issue. Multi-acre abandoned farms, no longer suitable for production, litter the coastline.

At many farms, wastewater containing excessive amounts of fertilizers, used to promote the growth of algae for shrimp food, is flushed into the coastal waters. Health standards for the shrimp are sometimes poor, and diseases spread quickly.

To further muddy the waters, in February 2005 the Commerce Department imposed anti-dumping orders and fines on six countries: Brazil, China, Ecuador, Vietnam, India and Thailand. U.S. shrimpers say the decision stopped the deep decline in imported shrimp prices, which have been sliding since 2000. However, U.S. shrimp prices are still at record lows, and the value is similar to that of shrimp in the 1960s, shrimpers complain.

Of the 15 or so commercial shrimp farms in the United States, most are seasonal, outdoor operations in Texas. There is one indoor shrimp in operation in Texas, another in Michigan. (All are monitored and regulated by state and federal agencies.) And skeptics question the economic sensibility of the operations, indoors or out.

"With the competition from imported shrimp, it's virtually impossible to make a profit in shrimp farming," says Bob Rosenberry, editor and publisher of Shrimp News International. "People have been trying to grow shrimp in this country for 40 years, and to the best of my knowledge no farm has made a consistent profit over several years."

But no shrimp farm is quite like the one under construction in Martinsville, Va., near the North Carolina border. Scheduled to begin tests within 90 days, Blue Ridge Aquaculture's 30,000-square-foot indoor facility is expected to produce nearly 50 million pounds of fresh, live shrimp per year, in a total recycling system with no waste or discharge.

"We're going to alter the way people eat fish," says company president Bill Martin. "It's all about volume. And we have no interest in frozen."

Blue Ridge is already one of the largest producers of live tilapia in the country, raising nearly 4 million pounds per year. Most go to Asian restaurants and supermarkets.

"The live market for shrimp has never been serviced, and it's a golden marketing opportunity," says George Flick, Blue Ridge adviser and professor of food science and technology at Virginia Tech. By the end of the year he hopes to have live shrimp in supermarkets in the Washington area.

Marvesta has explored selling live shrimp, but for the time being isn't focusing on it. After the shrimp are removed from the tanks, they are chilled and quickly die before being delivered to restaurants. Plans are underway to build 50 additional greenhouses and produce 250,000 pounds of shrimp by next spring.

J.J. Minetola, executive chef of Metropolitan restaurant in Annapolis, has been buying Marvesta shrimp for the past six months. "These are cool guys with gorgeous shrimp," says Minetola, who buys as much produce, meats and seafood as he can from local farms. "I call the guys at 1 p.m.," he says. "They pull them out of the tank, and by 3 p.m. they're at the kitchen door. That lets you know how fresh they are."