About 50 shrimpers are trawling the affected bay system and hauling in thousands of pounds of shrimp daily, so it is considered unlikely that many, of the exotic shrimp released last week are still in the bay. Far fewer shrimp are believed to have escaped last week than during the last significant incident in fall 1991, when hundreds of pounds of exotic shrimp were accidentally released from Hung Shrimp Farm into the Arroyo Colorado in South Texas. Exotic shrimp can leave the shrimp farms and enter public waters through wastewater discharge canals that empty into Texas bays or rivers. While these diseases are not a human health concern, the three exotic shrimp viruses which have been identified from Texas shrimp farms could potentially affect the health of wild shrimp populations if they were to spread beyond aquaculture operations. Texas shrimp farms are some of the largest in the country, with some five times more production acres than the second ranked state, South Carolina.
Shrimp farmers prefer exotic species to natives because they do better in mariculture settings.
Shrimp specimens will be collected by TPW Coastal Fisheries staff from all nine Texas bays each month, as part of their routine monitoring programs. Some special efforts will be made to take samples in the vicinity of aquaculture and shrimp processing facilities, which have been identified as potential sources of viral transmittal to wild populations. Search Please send comments, suggestions or questions to or click on the address to send an e-mail.