Do you ever wonder what it is like to be out on one of those shrimp boats you might have spotted from the malecón, or perhaps when you are buying shrimp from the changeros what are all the different types of shrimp and where do they come from? I sure have, and when I sat down with shrimp boat captain of 39 years Genaro Gonzales M.,I learned a ton about the industry. One of the most interesting things that I learned from Genaro was the difference between deep sea shrimp fishing and fishing for shrimp in the swampland or “marismas,” and the difference between deep sea shrimp and cultivated shrimp. Mr. Gonzales is a deep sea fisherman. The shrimp season lasts roughly from September to March. “It used to be much longer,¨ said Gonzales M., “about 8 or 9 months, but now it is about six months long.¨ He, with his team of 7 other men, board their boat and work in periods of 30 to 35 days at a time hauling in shrimp all up and down the Mexican Pacific coast – from Sonora to Chiapas. “It’s difficult,” said Mr. Gonzales, “to be away from our families for a month at a time.” Blue, White, Brown, Crystal, Rock and “Botalon” shrimp are the varieties that Mr. Gonzales talked to me about. The blue and the white shrimp are generally the largest shrimp. The Botalon

shrimp is found near the mouth of a river and is tasty. The smaller varieties are great for ceviches and the larger ones for baking or grilling. Mr. Gonzales began his career on a shrimp boat in 1951 at around 11 years of age when he began working on a boat in Guaymas, Sonora. He started as an assistant engineer and quickly rose to the level of Capitan. “On our boat,¨ he said. “we have a captain, an engineer, an assistant to the engineer, a cook, 2 sailors and one “paro,” or apprentice. Mr. Gonzales said it is very frustrating dealing with the numerous regulations that they must follow, whilst seeing the shallow water swamp shrimp being un-regulated and illegal. And he noted that nothing is being done about it. Another problem, he noted, is the quantity of larvae that are taken from the bays and inlets where the shrimp breed and reproduce, and then cultivated. Many larvae die in this process. I asked him about tropical storms and how the climate affects his line of work and he responded that it is greatly affected by it. “Before Hurricane Ishmael, of 1995, we would only get one weather advisory every 24 hours. That caused problems for us when there was a storm coming in.¨ Overall, Mr. Gonzales predicts difficult times for the shrimp industry. But he has been doing his job all his life and he loves it.