Shrimp Industry – Saltwater Crawfish

Franklin County’s shrimp industry emerged in the early 20^th century, following an already successful oyster industry in and around Apalachicola Bay.

By 1897, fresh shrimp were sold locally but, up until about 1900, most fishermen threw them back into the water as an unwanted bycatch when they found them in their seine nets.

Shrimp were plentiful in the bay but their full potential was not realized until 1902 when Sollecito Salvatore, a Sicilian immigrant living along Florida’s east coast, revolutionized the industry.  Salvatore (anglicized Mark Salvador) was a seine fisherman in Fernandina.  Like most fishermen of the day, shrimp were a by-product of his shallow-water seining operation until he began using a power-driven boat with a haul seine which allowed him to work in deep water and increase his shrimp catch.

Before 1900, shrimping was small scale, done in rowboats with hand nets. When Salvador began using larger nets and motorized boats, shrimping took off. In 1913, the weighted trawl net was invented, further increasing the catch and expanding the shrimp industry worldwide.

By the mid 1910s, several local seafood companies were in operation along the Apalachicola riverfront, including the Ruge Brothers Canning Company, Bay City Packing Company, Apalachicola Packing Company, Rice Brothers Packing Company and the  Apalachicola Fish and Oyster Packing Company. By 1915, multiple canneries were shipping canned seafood, including shrimp, to northern markets.

By 1919 the Florida legislature passed a law regulating shrimping operations in which the statute referred to the crustaceans as “Salt Water Crawfish.”  By the 1920s, the shrimp industry moved down Florida’s east coast, around the peninsula to the Apalachicola area, and expanded west into the Gulf coast to Texas and then down to the Tortugas and across to Campehe, Mexico.

Today, Apalachicola Bay shrimpers average more than a million pounds per year, nearly 20% of the state’s shrimp supply.

Inshore shrimp fishermen generally use a small bay boat, less than 38 feet long. Shrimpers fish by day or night depending on the time of year and the habits of the species sought. Offshore shrimpers use larger boats, 72-90 feet long. Because the larger boats generally stay out for 10 days or longer, the shrimp caught are flash frozen on board the vessel to maximize freshness.