This Wednesday (1st) Pelotas held the official opening of the 2023 Shrimp Crop, at Colonia Z-3. This year, approximately one thousand fishermen are licensed to fish for shrimp, which can be caught until May 31st.
The mayor of Pelotas, Paula Mascarenhas, said at the ceremony that the shrimp harvest is a very important period of appreciation for fishermen and for the region’s fishing tradition.
“I want to greet this group of people here, all connected by the love for this community and the belief that this community has enormous potential to develop and, above all, for what they know how to do best and have been doing for a long time, which is fishing. ”, said the mayor.
The representative of the Colony Z-3 Fishermen’s Union, Rudinei Rodrigues da Silva, said that the expectation is for a good harvest based on the weather conditions registered since October, when the scarcity of rain allowed the entry of salty water earlier in the year. Lagoa dos Patos estuary, but said it was too early to estimate numbers.
“We believe we have a lot of shrimp, maybe more than last year. We are confident of a good harvest”, stated Silva.
During the event, four fishermen symbolically received environmental licenses for shrimp fishing. The other fishermen will be able to pick up the document at the union headquarters.
Also participating in the ceremony were state deputy Zé Nunes (PT); the executive director of the Municipal Secretariat for Rural Development, Romualdo Cunha Júnior; the head of the municipal office of Emater in Pelotas, Francisco Arruda and the vice president of the Association of Market Traders and Artisanal Fishermen of Pelotas, Enilson Spinelli.
Low prices
The president of the Fishermen’s Union, Nilmar Conceição, explains that the value of a kilo of shrimp can vary a lot, depending on demand, but at the beginning of the harvest, a kilo of the product is being sold for prices ranging from R$ 8.00 to R$ 8.00. $10.00 with shell and from R$30.00 to R$40.00 without shell
