This shrimp trawler is docked at the Bluffton Oyster Company in Bluffton after a long day of catching fresh, local seafood from the May River.

South Carolina has two shrimping seasons, the first of which begins in May and runs through August. Smaller, brown shrimp are harvested during this season, while the larger white shrimp are harvested from September through December. When you eat local shrimp, you provide much needed support to our local industries. Inexpensive imported shrimp have flooded stores and restaurants, driving prices so low that South Carolina’s shrimpers are struggling to survive.

These foreign shrimp may be cheap, but they come with a high cost to our health, environment, and communities. Most of these farm-raised shrimp are given harsh chemicals and antibiotics, which pollute the shrimp and the water they are bred in. South Carolina shrimp are naturally fresh, flavorful and caught wild from our own coastal waters.