New Orleans Shrimping Industry: Levee Ponds

Levee Ponds

“Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That, that’s about it.” 

-Bubba (Forrest Gump)

Bubba Gump had it right when he told of all the different ways a person can eat shrimp! All of these shrimp eating styles are exactly why the shrimping industry is and has been so crucial to New Orleans since 1774. Everyone flocks to NOLA for the shrimp! The sea food industry in general is massive in this city due to the easy access to gulf water, but especially shrimp.

Shrimp in this context are water crustaceans with elongated abdomens and tails, long antennae, and and skinny legs. They propel themselves through the water by locomotion (how a train moves on tracks) and use their legs for perching. Shrimp can be found individually or in packs (especially during spawning season) on the sea floor or in rivers, lakes, and estuaries. In addition to these locations, levees ponds have been recently implemented in the harvesting of shrimp in coastal areas, including New Orleans.

Levee ponds are what they sound like! Man-made ponds surrounded by a levee system. In this case, however, the levee is not built to prevent the overflow of a river as the definition holds, but rather to prevent the movement of shrimp from the pond.

(Diagram of a levee pond)

 Levee ponds usually are built in the marshes and estuaries surrounding New Orleans. They tend to look like rice fields, built next to each other on acres of land and produce large amounts of shrimp for the industry of the city. The massive catches of shrimp aid in the $50 million per year shrimping industry. Right now, the profit made from this expenditure is essential and positive to New Orleans' economy. But for how long?

Drawbacks of the levee ponds are important to note. Due to the more recent implementation of this form of shrimping, huge ramifications have not yet been seen. They definitely have the potential to rear their ugly heads though. The most obvious set back of these structures is the pollution that occurs. Anything man made produces pollution. There is always a negative product of human progression. Waterways and marshes around the city are becoming polluted with dirt and other by-products of creating these ponds. Metal pipes have to be constructed into the structures as well as an electrical set up to drain them once a harvest is ready. These are not natural to the environment and pollute the ecosystem. Another ramification of these levees are the fact that the marshes are disappearing. This means that the ecosystems within are not only being polluted but killed off as well. In the long run, these consequences will add up to more than the benefits of this form of shrimping.

(Levee Ponds)

As with any form of expanding an industry, there are costs and benefits that are hard to ignore. For the levee pond industry in New Orleans, citizens of Louisiana need to begin thinking about what they value more: a booming economy or the preservation of the fleeting land that they love and is hard to come by.