ILWACO – Catching shrimp is no small task, just ask Jerry Wright of Long Beach. He’s been after the two- to three-inch-long crustaceans since he first came to the Peninsula in 1977.

Wright recently purchased the 68-foot Seajay, and his is one of three shrimp boats operated by local fishermen and moored at the Port of Ilwaco. The 20-foot-wide Seajay works the beds for ocean pink shrimp 20 to 25 miles off shore on beds that are covered by “green mud.”

“The shrimp tend to concentrate on the algae-covered bottom we call green mud. You find that, you find shrimp,” Wright says. Weather is critical for shrimping, even though the pinks are down 70 to 80 fathoms, or about 400 to 500 feet in depth. “Good weather and sunshine causes the shrimp to feed on the bottom where we can get them in large concentrations,” Wright explains. “Bad weather and they get riled up and are not all at the same depth.”

The Seajay is a double-rigged shrimp boat which uses winches and steel cables to drop the poly nets the 80 fathoms necessary to get to the catch. The poly net is 80 feet long and approximately 60 feet wide. Wooden “doors” on each side of the mammoth net keep it open and moving about a foot off the ocean floor.

The poly nets are 12 feet high, creating a 720 square foot scoop to gather the shrimp. Tickler chains are dragged in front of the net to get the shrimp to come off the bottom and excluder bars are directly in front of the poly nets to sweep larger fish and sea creatures safely out over the opening.

“We get only about .5 percent bi-catch,” according to Wright, “and the excluders don’t seem to hamper the shrimp from getting into the net.” Each tow takes from two to three hours and during that time up to 6,000 pounds of the tiny crustaceans enter the net.

“We average 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of shrimp per tow. We don’t want the nets to get too full because they can become dangerous to handle,” Wright says. The humongous poly nets are hauled on board and the pucker strap is popped to release the catch into the hopper.

Conveyer belts move the shrimp to the hold where ice is mixed by hand to keep the catch fresh. The Seajay can hold up to 50,000 pounds of shrimp, and ice will keep them fresh up to four days. A plugged hold could have as many as 7 million shrimp in it.

The labor-intensive effort is a new challenge to rookie crew members Noel Morley and Brad Heimbigner, but both have taken to it like a fish to water.

“Brad seems to love the adventure and being out on the water,” Wright explains.

Morley says, “It gives me time to think and to read the Bible. I’m in the heating and cooling business, but the winter was slow for business so when Jerry asked me to come with him, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. I had asked him if we could trawl for salmon, and he ended up putting me on full-time as a shrimper.”

The economy for shrimping has been slow, according to Wright, with the price falling from 85 cents a pound in the mid 1980s to 31 cents per pound now. The price has fallen steadily for shrimp due to the fact they are found world-wide. Over 500 boats fished for shrimp on the West Coast of the U.S. 25 years ago, but that number is down to fewer than 100 according to Wright.

“The problem we have with shrimp prices is competition,” Wright relates. Nearly every coastal country has a shrimp fishery, and many have much lower labor costs. The two-man crew is paid on a percentage of their catch. Maintenance of any salt-water craft is a constant and sometimes costly occurrence.

Wright says, “The Seajay is in great shape so I don’t anticipate many costs other than fuel, oil changes, a coat of paint, and other routine expenses.” Fuel prices have sky-rocketed nearly 50 percent this year.

Shrimp prices are calculated by taking samples from each tub that is brought to the cannery. A count of 120 shrimp per pound yields a 36-cent price because the catch is larger and a count of 160 shrimp per pound is 31 cents. It is illegal to keep smaller shrimp than the 160-count and a catch of extremely small shrimp must be returned to the sea.

Wright and his crew will crab in the winter to help make ends meet, and they may fish for tuna, salmon, and bottom fish if the price is right.

“Working on a shrimp boat isn’t for everyone,” Wright cautions. “I had a fellow a few years ago who was seasick the entire three days and wasn’t able to get off his knees. I try to find out what each crew member likes to do and that is how I assign duties.”

Morley is the mechanic and Heimbigner cooks, while all three share “whale-watch” duties when the Seajay travels at night. When not traveling at night, the shrimp boats space themselves about a mile apart and drift while the poly nets are tucked safely on deck.

Wright, who grew up in Moses Lake, has fished commercially since he visited his grandfather, Si Berg, in 1977.

“I started out working on the oyster beds that summer, and it didn’t take me long to figure out it was more fun in a boat,” he jokes.

He also worked a bit as a carpenter, but when his wife Sally’s brother invited Wright to pick up the Libby Lynn from the East Coast and bring it through the Panama Canal, Jerry was hooked on the sea.

He has fished from Coos Bay to Cape Flattery and has been caught twice in 100 mile-per-hour winds and 38 foot seas.

“Water and wind are two of the most powerful forces of nature and I have survived both, but I have been scared a few times,” Wright admits.

Dragging the ocean the past 27 years, Wright has found many interesting objects.

“I thought I had a refrigerator in the net one time, but it turned out to be the coffin of someone buried at sea. We carefully returned it as quickly as we could.”

He found a torpedo and several 50-caliber rounds in 360 fathoms (2,160 feet) once and again cautiously returned the load from a World War II ship to the depths. Whales, dolphins, albatross and other sea birds, and the phosphorescence of the ocean at night are marvels Wright and his crew experience on a regular basis.

“All in all it’s been a good life,” Wright says of his career as a fisherman. “I’m in it for the duration. Besides, I’m too old to change.

“Eat shrimp,” he advises as he maneuvers the Seajay to the cannery ice chute in anticipation of another trip to sea.