Ron, whoever told you that about shrimp has never spent much time at the docks.
One hour East of here, half way to the Ocean, is the local commercial shrimp boat dock, and I have bought their shrimp and
walked the dock. Shrimp came out of hold, dumped on huge stainless steel sorting table with maybe a dozen people working from all sides, throwing
shrimp into sizing buckets. Buckets walked twenty feet to walk in cooler. I bought from cooler. Fresh, and my what a light flavor. The shrimp I cooked
for the ladies yesterday were cheapo Malaysian shrimp and they smelled more than I liked. The local shrimp has almost no smell.
Well, not quite true. If you want a nasty smell, just be stupid and transport the big plastic bags they sell you the shrimp in without putting said bag
into a bucket. Then have five pounds of shrimp in a bag break on rear floor of truck. Took me almost a year to get that smell out, not much slopped over the top of
the floor mats but it was enough. Nothing like the smell of old shrimp on a hot day...
But I absolutely agree there is no fresh shrimp in the supermarket and that might have been what you meant.
If shrimp is flash frozen within ten minutes of coming out of the water, on some big floating factory ship,
that's probably as good as most of us will get.
If I'm having company though and they like shrimp, down to the dock in Swan Quarter I go.
One of the reasons I moved to this area was to be close to the water and the enormous Bays between the mainland and the Ocean always have shrimpers in them.
Shrimp boats are fun to watch but never get too close with your boat.
Going up and down the Intracoastal to Florida I've witnessed some boaters do seriously stupid things
around commercial boats, probably the same idiots who pull out in front of tractor trailers.
Fishing boats with lines/nets in the water usually have right of way.
They aren't going fast but to see some fool go roaring behind a fishing boat as they are being frantically waved off
was something I saw more than once.
There is no licensing requirement of any kind needed to drive a large boat, usually under 65 feet, in a crowded marine environment.
Most boaters are really good and take courses, like I did, and understand marine navigation rules. The ones that don't create havoc.
Just like on the highways. My late wife and I used to joke when we would see the next Azimut run aground on a sand bar or out of the channel,
operated by some nouveau riche guy with gold chains and no brains.
