Georgia shrimp season could be delayed - 9th Apr 2011

BRUNSWICK Georgia's shrimping fleet could spend a couple more weeks in port because below-normal winter temperatures apparently killed a large number of shrimp as well as spotted seatrout in the coastal estuaries.

"We'll likely delay the opening of state waters to food-shrimp harvest to allow more of the shrimp that survived the winter to spawn before being caught," Pat Geer, chief of marine fisheries for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said Friday.

DNR closed state waters, extending from the beach to three miles offshore, to the commercial and recreational food shrimp harvest for the winter on Jan. 10.

No opening date has been set, but the harvest typically resumes in the second or third week of June each year.

Because of the winter kill, the opening might be pushed back a week or two depending how the shrimp population rebounds.

SEATROUT AFFECTED

It appears seatrout also were hard hit by the cold. Fishermen and state natural resources personnel in Georgia and the Carolinas have seen dead fish.

In Georgia, the fish kill has been reported from Savannah south to St. Simons Island. Read More