Shrimping industry’s resilience after devastation

As southwest Florida continues to rebuild after Hurricane Ian, one industry hit especially hard was shrimping.

Shrimp boats had been toppled, and dockyards had been destroyed. But one company, Erickson & Jensen Seafood, fought back.

WINK News anchor Emma Heaton spent a day with the crew, witnessing their path to recovery.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, the docks on Fort Myers Beach had resembled a graveyard of shrimp boats.

Anna Erickson and her father, Grant, of Erickson & Jensen Seafood, would never forget the first time they saw the damage.

“I couldn’t even describe in words what it looked like,” said Anna Erickson. “It was like my mind and my eyes couldn’t connect the reality of what was visually seen here. It was very traumatizing.”

“I said to Anna, ‘We could sell this property and be financially secure for the rest of our lives. No problem.’ And I asked, ‘What do you want to do?’ She said, ‘I like what I do. I want to stay,'” added Grant Erickson.

Anna and Grant got to work, starting with untangling their boats, boats that had been taking shrimpers out to sea since the 1950s.

“Untangling things. A lot of untangling,” said Anna. “We had three boats tied to each other, attached, right here.”

Slowly but surely, the father-daughter duo climbed back. Grant rebuilt the dock himself, and they are proud to say they are back up and running.

The shrimping company had lost three boats in the storm, and the rest of the fleet had been out of production for nearly a year.

But today, crews are back, unloading thousands of pounds of fresh shrimp. Distributors picked them up, and other customers came by too.

“The shrimp come up with the winch, they go onto the belt, and into the house,” explained Anna. “We palletize them in 2,000-pound pallets, and then we store them in our freezers until the truck comes to pick them up.”

WINK News watched crews unload 10,000 pounds of fresh shrimp from one boat. It is hard work, but these shrimpers do it for southwest Florida and to support their families.

Today’s picture is a far cry from what the docks looked like two years ago.

Anna’s message, which she and her dad had lived out by perfect example: “Never give up. Anything is possible. With the right mindset, you can move forward.”

Grant and Anna have big plans for Erickson & Jensen Seafood. They hope to invite the public down to see what they did and had been planning to develop a food court.

The vision includes food trucks at their shrimp lane establishment, where people can enjoy shrimp and watch crews working on the waterfront while they eat.