It could be a very lean year for white shrimp in Charleston. Due to January's freak snowstorm and 21 consecutive days of water temperatures at or below 48°F, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources says they've seen a 98 percent loss in white shrimp.
"This was a pretty exceptional cold snap," says Mel Bell, DNR's Director of Office of Fisheries Management. "We know from past experiences, because it’s happened many times going back, whenever we have a cold winter and water drops below about 48 degrees, when you have that you start seeing mortality of the shrimp. What happened this year in particular was how fast it dropped."
The impact of the freeze could mean a delay in the commercial shrimp season which typically opens between May and June, although those dates have yet to be officially determined for 2018.
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