Our Summer Travels ~ Going Shrimpin'

Monday, June 13, 2016

Today is the day. Today is the day we're going shrimpin'! We drove to Brunswick to Credle's Adventures...

where we joined Lady Jane's Shrimp Cruise. 

Waiting in line to board the Lady Jane...

sunscreen (a necessity) and boarding passes

The Lady Jane, a 65 foot US Coast Guard Certified passenger steel shrimping vessel, has been
 recently retired after years of service in the shrimping industry.

Lady Jane Shrimp Trawler

time to board

She has been refurbished and converted to a tour boat; seating was added

 and the inside air conditioned.

it was a hot afternoon; hats were definitely needed

The Lady Jane is equipped with traditional rigging...

the net, when opened, is 28 feet long and 20 feet wide

our naturalist, John

and, we're off!!

We stayed in the estuary (mixture of salt and fresh water; brackish. The tide acts as a mixer
 of these waters). Special permission has been granted for the Lady Jane to trawl in the estuary.

very peaceful...we were three miles from the ocean

Captain Jeffrey at the helm

Soon, Captain Jeffrey made the call to lower the net...

beginning to lower the net

finally! the net is in the water

We moved very slowly while trawling. John explained how the net was lowered and what type of fish we may catch in the net. Permission is granted for the Lady Jane to catch everything in the nets, as long as what is caught is returned to the water.

On commercial trawlers, these nets are hung on the main net. These nets help prevent any fish other than shrimp, from getting into the net.

this net is used to keep sea turtles out of the nets

Soon, it was time to bring the net in and see what we caught...

Reversing the process of dropping the net...

raising the net

we must have caught quite a bit...

John needed help raising the net

rising up slowly

getting closer

as the net came up, the sea birds followed

hmmm, I wonder what's in the net

Once the net was empty, John went through the catch, identifying and giving us the characteristics of each fish. He then passed said fish to anyone who wish to hold it.  Some of the catch included...

shovel nose shark

sharp nose shark

Ron holding the sharp nose shark

sabertooth fish. so named because of its teeth. properly prepared, and freeze-dried, this
fish would sell as bait for about $8 per fish. it is excellent bait because it is naturally so shiny.

my! what sharp teeth you have! these fish have oversized , recurved palatine teeth,
similar to those of saber-tooth cats

southern manta ray. notice his eyes and barbed tail? we could not hold this
one because it would sting

this manta ray did not have a barbed tail. it was very soft and flexible

those are gills below his mouth

blue crabs. the top one is a male, the bottom a female

The blue crabs molt; the shell splits open. The crab then swims out of it's shell and hides.
 It will be forty-four hours before a new shell will harden around the crab.

the blue was just stunning

Ron holding the male

horseshoe crab. John folded it in half

When a horseshoe crab is injured and bacteria are present, the immune system begins a clotting system to seal off the injury. The horseshoe crab's immune system uses endotoxin at the major signal that it is being infected.  When this was discovered, scientists realized it could be used to create an effective test for the presence of endotoxin, a poison found in many bacteria. A half million horseshoe crabs are harvested each year, with 30% of the blood of those harvested used by hospitals. 

the hard shell surrounds the crab

Ron holding a squid

John holding a shrimp and telling us the quickest way to devein it

All told, the net was raised and lowered three times during the two hours we traversed the estuary.

John returning the catch to the water

This was a great two hours of learning about the estuaries and eco-life near St. Simons and Jekyll Islands, 

the importance of horseshoe crabs and the quickest way to devein a shrimp.

Needless to say, we had a blast!!!

Til next time,

Ron, Dawn & Cooper