Shrimp Boats
An
anecdote I never told concerns artificial reefs... My dad -- I guess most dads
-- in the 50's shrimp get rich quick fad,
invested as
a partner in a shrimp boat... My dad, being a shipwright went down often to
watch the construction.. I remember being there when the keel was laid. It
was a huge amalgamation of hardwood timbers tenon and mortised and bolted
together... I remember when the ribs began to be laid out and then attached to
the keel... I remember the smell of the cedro amargo (sp) as they cut and
machined the wood... The end result was
magnificent... Soon
it joined the growing flotilla of hunters who plied the shrimp grounds. Get rich quick with the abundant
shrimp. No thought of management or
limits... My father and some of the more educated partners warned the rabi
blanco moneymen about what had happened to the industries in the US... They
said it wouldn't happen here -- the tropics were to strong... As the huge
Panama shrimp began to dwindle under the onslaught, trawler captains went
further and further into the breeding grounds.
Those breeding grounds were shared by corbina and pargo rojo, dog tooth
snapper and grouper. These, as
fingerlings, were killed by the zillions and dumped when the shrimp nets were
cleaned. The captains swore they weren't doing it... Desperate
to stop the poaching which would eventually kill both the shrimp industry and
sport fishing, my dad and some friends took action. They bought old cars striped of engines, seats, glass, and gas
tanks from automobile row. The cars
just had to roll so they could be towed... Each night for several weeks they
would tow a couple of cars through Amador out to the launching ramp past Amador
beach. Inside each car were 2 or 3 55
gal drums. An X had been torched
through the metal roof of each car from doorpost to doorpost but not quite connecting
in the center of the X. They then
rolled the cars down the launch ramp into the water at high tide. They the floated just below the water. One of the team with their outboard boat
then towed the car to the breeding grounds.
The center of the X was cut out releasing the 55 gallon drums and
opening up the car roof like a baked potato as it sunk to the bottom. The
captains who WERE poaching were out of business for several weeks while they
procured new $40,000 nets -- the former ones being entwined on car reefs... One
of the rabi blancos paid off the Patrulla Costal (sp) who began patrolling to
stop the dumping of cars... Over 40 cars were dumped before they knew what was
happening however... Several were
pulled out by the Patrol but as soon as they stopped being there nightly more
went in... Amador stopped allowing the cars in the gate once it was reported
which meant they had to come all the way from Laboca or Diablo ramp...
I heard that one of the ecologically minded
trawler captains actually stood off shore
on the other side of panama city and hauled some wrecks down the beach
using a 1/4 mile long cable. Later
years saw red tide and that killed off the weakened shrimp schools... It was
sad to see all those majestic trawlers rotting at anchor off Panama.
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Author Dale C. Clarke.
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