BILOXI, Ms. — June 17, 2014 — With fewer than 24 hours to go until the start of shrimp season, boats were lining up faster than Saint Michael's Ice & Fuel could fill them full of crustacean-cooling ice.
As the heat index Tuesday reached into the high 90s, captains and crews were busy readying their boats to leave Tuesday night so they could start trawling at today's 6 a.m. start of the season in Mississippi territorial waters.
Many of them were optimistic.
"They say this year is gonna be above average," said Timothy King, captain of a boat from Port St. Joe, Fla., near Apalachicola.
He's been shrimping in Mississippi waters for 10 years and said his best year was in 2009. Last year's haul was decent, though, he said.
"Supposed to be a real good opening," he said.
The state Department of Marine Resources' Shrimp and Crab Bureau director Rick Burris agreed.
"Based on our sampling, we've seen good numbers of brown shrimp," he said.
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