Hilton Head Island’s dwindling shrimping business pivots in direction of tourism

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC (WTOC) – Decades ago, the shrimp industry, along with its economy, ruled the water on Hilton Head. Now tourism has got the upper hand and the shrimp business is no longer the same.

“The days of the local shrimp who had a trailer or a house on the island and a small shrimp boat and went there during the shrimp season and fed their family for the whole year, those days are almost over here,” said Keith Walston. Rover Cruise Owner.

Few people are left in the game around Hilton Head and the big shrimp business has largely turned away from the island.

“The shrimp industry here has been replaced by tourism because of the cost of living, hasn’t it? Where someone can rent their house to visitors for a whole lot of money, they won’t be doing long term rentals for people who catch shrimp and do that sort of thing, so you don’t see so many boats anymore. “Said Andrew Carmines, owner of Hudson’s.

One company, Vagabond, decided to combine the two industries – shrimp and tourism – into one shrimp boat experience. Captain Spike Ivory says he knew how to entertain but not how to make shrimp.

“Boss tossed me the keys and said find out, I’m a shrimp fisher,” said Ivory. “I’ve never fished shrimp before in my life so we found out, talked to a few old timers on the island, and did a lot of trial and error, so we finally made it to where we catch pretty well.”

Tammy Jane is now five years old. On the two hour tour this morning they caught around 40 pounds of shrimp. For Vagabond, it’s about creating a unique experience.

“You won’t find it anywhere else. There may be a few tiny little boats you can do something similar on, but nothing is as interactive as here on the Tammy Jane, ”said Lauren Hedden, Vagabond Cruise boatswain.

It is an example of how an industry and an economy can develop together. Tourism that boosts the economy like the shrimp once did.

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