September 8, 2025 — Ray Mallett started fishing near the mouth of the Calcasieu River more than half a century ago as part of the “mosquito fleet,” a ragtag group of kids that plied the surrounding rivers and bayous in small motorboats in search of crabs.
A Gulf Coast fisherman like his father before him, Mallett harvested shrimp for decades from an estuary in Southwest Louisiana that was once the seafood capital of America.
Now, he can hardly catch enough shrimp to pay for fuel.
“Each year we’re getting less and less,” Mallett said, standing at the helm of his boat, Cajun Memories. The name is a nod to his roots, and as one of the last remaining shrimp boats in Cameron’s port, a once-thriving fishery.