THOSE GIANT SHRIMP OFF THE GULF COAST.
The Osgood File. Sponsored in part by Auto Owners Insurance, the No Problem People. Visit AutoOwners.Com. This is Charles Osgood.
Sometimes, it's hard to tell whether a development is good news or bad news.
But either way, what's been happening off the U.S. Gulf and South Atlantic coasts does grab your attention.
VO - Mark Strassmann, CBS News Correspondent
"From Texas to North Carolina, fishermen have been catching giant shrimp, big enough to stretch across a 12-inch dinner plate." (:08)
That's our CBS News colleague Mark Strassmann.
VO - Mark Strassmann
"Shrimp captain James Mason has fished Louisiana's coast for 44 years - but he had never caught one of these until last April, when he netted seven in one month." (:10)
SOT - James Mason, shrimp captain - with Mark Strassmann
"(Strassmann:) What did you think the first time you saw one? (Mason:) I didn't know what to think. We dumped the net, and it popped out on top - I said: 'My god, what a big old shrimp!'" (:07)
What's possibly good - and what's possibly bad - about these big old shrimp after this...
((( BREAK )))
What's good about these giant shrimp we were telling you about - says Captain James Mason - is that they sell for about eight dollars apiece.
SOT - James Mason, with Mark Strassmann
"(Mason:) That's the most expensive shrimp I've ever sold in my life - eight dollars apiece. (laughs) (Strassmann:) If you could sell every shrimp for eight bucks, you wouldn't be shrimping all that long, would you? (Mason:) No, you could retire real quick - real quick. (laughs)" (:10)
The giant shrimp are Asian tiger prawns - native to the Western Pacific.
But the bad news - says Mark Strassmann - is that in the waters of the southeastern United States, they're considered an invasive species.
VO - Mark Strassmann
"The U.S. Geological Survey says they may have escaped from Caribbean aquaculture farms, or from the water tanks of passing ships." (:07)
The number being caught here spiked from 32 the year before last to 569 last year.
They are good to eat, but the reason they get so big is that they eat so much.
VO - Mark Strassmann
"Asian tiger prawns have voracious appetites - and feed on crabs, mollusks and smaller shrimp." (:06)
Boon or bane? The jury's still out, says Strassmann.
VO - Mark Strassmann
"Fisherman have collected another fifty Asian tiger prawn caught this year for Federal researchers to study. They're all trying to decide whether these giant shrimp are a new threat - or a new market." (:11)
The Osgood File. Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network. |
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