CONCERN over the dwindling shrimp population in a tributary of the Black River referred to by locals as the YS River have been growing in recent years, particularly among vendors whose peppered shrimp delicacy has made the St Elizabeth village of Middle Quarters a popular stop for travellers along Jamaica’s south coast.

The interloper, according to scientists and residents, is the hard-back Australian red claw crayfish, which has been multiplying at the expense of the popular, tastier, softer-shell crustacean.

“Is not shrimp they call that one, you know; we call it shrimp but it’s cray[fish],” long-time Middle Quarters shrimp vendor Angella Taylor told the Jamaica Observer, pointing to a large, hard-shell crustacean cooked and bagged for sale alongside smaller soft-shelled shrimp.

“Someone brought the [young] ones to cultivate on a fish farm and a storm flooded the farm and washed them into the river,” Taylor claimed.

An International Society for Ecological Economics study, titled Alien invasions and livelihoods: Economic benefits of invasive Australian red claw crayfish in Jamaica, published in 2015, states that the crayfish was introduced to Jamaica in 1993 for cultivation.

The researchers said the Australian red claw is “an important source of income for fishermen within the Black River Lower Morass”, and supplements incomes during periods when native shrimp catches decline.

However, they concluded that, “Even if the invasive animals are not predating on the native shrimp and fish, they are able to out-compete them, and if no action is taken [they] may eventually dominate and hence completely change the Black River Morass forever.”

Additionally, a draft Black River Protected Landscape Management Plan commissioned by Jamaica’s National Environment and Planning Agency cited concerns from residents about native shrimp decline, and indicated that the red claw had adapted to low-water and low-oxygen conditions caused by increasingly frequent droughts, conditions which prove fatal for the native shrimp.

Taylor cited the size difference between the heftier Australian red claw and the native shrimp.

“They damage our shrimp because they’re big and strong and our natural shrimp are soft, so they eat them,” she told the Sunday Observer.

That the Australian red claw was cannibalising the smaller native shrimp in the river was an overarching belief among the men and women who spoke with the Sunday Observer.

“They are so hard to [kill]. If you get 20 pounds of them and put them in a deep freeze today, tomorrow morning if you take them out you still have live ones just the same,” said Vanomie Malcolm, a shrimp vendor for more than 40 years.

“You have some as big as my hand; one can weigh half a pound, three-quarters of a pound, maybe even a pound. We are not having the amount of shrimp we used to have because of these,” Malcolm complained.

That, however, is not the only factor affecting the decrease in the native shrimp population.

“With climate change, overfishing, and other bad practices like pollution we have seen a decline in our shrimp population across our various rivers,” minister of agriculture and fisheries, and Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth South Western Floyd Green told the Sunday Observer.

Michael Samuels, a fisherman-turned-shrimp vendor who has been selling for almost seven years, said he didn’t think the much larger red claw was eating the native shrimp. Rather, he pointed to farming chemicals “like caratrax and malathion” used by people farming alongside the river, as a concern.

Water loss from drought and mud deposits after storms were also shared by residents as possible contributors.

The overall result is less locally caught shrimp.

“I’m not getting any; I don’t know if [other vendors get] but I’m not getting any,” Taylor said, raising her arms in a gesture of helplessness.

Green added, “Clearly that does negatively impact our shrimp industry but, thankfully, we have some very resilient vendors.”

During a recent visit to Middle Quarters the Sunday Observer saw that Taylor, Samuels, Malcolm and almost all the vendors on the strip had a mixture of shrimp, and even the large invasive crayfish, in their bowls as, they say, customers ask for different varieties.

The red claw is now routinely caught and cooked for sale even though it is not as popular as the native shrimp, vendors explained.

Despite this, the bulk of their shrimp now come from the ocean in order to supplement the meagre supplies from the river.

Lashanna Loutin told the Sunday Observer she has been selling shrimp since she was 10 years old, as she was allowed by her family to join in selling on the weekend.

“We used to sell river shrimp but because the water is dried out we have to buy [sea] shrimp,” she said

But vendors say the price difference is stark.

“It costs a lot, very expensive!” Taylor said, indicating that the higher prices cut deep into her profit margins.

She expressed gratitude, regardless, as it is keeping her business alive.

“You make a little [profit] on it. You might expect more but you have to just work with what you get,” agreed Loutin who goes by the handle ZellaSpicyShrimp on Instagram.

The minister is confident, however, that he has a solution which will help the area.

“We have started our first-ever shrimp hatchery right here in Jamaica to actually breed our own shrimp population. We have gone through our trial processes and now we are going to be starting a pilot project where we are going to be distributing shrimp and prawn to prospective farmers,” Green said.

He said the farmers would benefit from training in the technical requirements of shrimp farming, with the hope that the yield will be able to supplement the current catch and support the general fishing industry and the vendors.

“We are going to start our pilot in another month or two, and we will look to expand the programme once our pilot goes successfully,” he said.

For now, the vendors say they want better conveniences — including more than the thin umbrellas they use for shade. They’re hoping for stalls with sanitary conveniences. Despite the various challenges, however, they maintain that the industry is a good one.

Loutin declared, “I have customers in foreign, Kingston, MoBay — all ’bout.”

Samuels added, “People make a living out of it; they send their kids to school out of it and some even build houses out of it.”

Vanomie Malcolm, who has been a shrimp vendor at Middle Quarters, St Elizabeth, for four decades, displays a bag of the invasive Australian red claw crayfish. (Photos: Gavin Jones)