Fresh shrimp brings flocks to docks

The portion of the Morgan City wharf where the Mama D tied up Wednesday was a happy, noisy place.
Someone was getting paid. And lots of people were going to eat well.
St. Mary shrimpers are among those who followed the tradition by heading into shallow inshore water as the shrimp season began Monday. The season had already been delayed over concern about the supplies of juvenile shrimp in the inshore waters where they spend their early lives.
Other St. Mary residents followed another tradition: rushing to the dock before the fresh shrimp was gone.
Donald and Donna Ribardi, joined by relatives Ashley and Cherie Ribardi, sold the shrimp Donald caught for $2.75 a pound. At that price, the shrimp wasn’t around long enough for the ice to melt.
One customer asked if the Ribardis ever caught squid.
Squid happens, they said.
The customer’s name and number went into an address book.
People ambled up to the Mama D with coolers small enough to carry a working man’s lunch and big enough for a man to sleep in after lunch. One walk-up customer wanted 40 pounds. But the supply on the Mama D seemed sufficient.
Donald Ribardi fished for 1½ days and came back with 20 100-pound boxes full of shrimp. Even so, he said, it wasn’t a great trip.
“Right now there’s so much muddy water,” Ribardi said. “I had to go all the way to Intracoastal City, all the way from Cypremort Point.”
Good luck nestles among the bad in this business. Ribardi said that last year, the fourth since the BP oil spill wounded Louisiana’s seafood industry, he got a good price for his shrimp. He thinks commercial docks take too big a piece of the shrimping action, so he tried selling directly to customers at the Morgan City docks. It appeared to work well.
Ribardi has a different kind of luck, too. He’s a tugboat pilot for Berry Brothers. He works 14 days and then gets seven days off, during which he’s free to pursue the extra money that shrimping might provide.
“But they’ve got boys who are making a living and catching hell with this stuff,” Ribardi said. “You can be out there and tear up your rig, and then you’re in the hole.”
That doesn’t mean he’s ready to quit. As he turned back to walk down the dock to his customers, Ribardi turned and said, “Tell them all to support Louisiana fishermen!”

This story was written by Bill Decker of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at bdecker@daily-review.com.