Originally published in Charleston City Paper, Oct 5 2005

Lowcountry Shrimp Fleet, Receding

Jason A. Zwiker 

The clock hits 4 AM when I’m halfway across the Arthur Ravenel, Jr., hoping that the captain’s watch is running a few minutes slow. The Supremes are on The Drive at 100.5, wailing out Love Child. I crank it way up. It’ll help the coffee kick in.

I’m definitely late by the time I cross Shem Creek and take a left at the Presbyterian church, but I keep my fingers crossed, and sure enough, there’s the Winds of Fortune all lit up at the east dock as I park at Magwood Seafood. I step aboard and we pull out into the water, just that quick.

Wayne Magwood, at the wheel, offers me fresh coffee and he starts to tell me stories about shrimp in summer and oysters in winter. About the Lowcountry and Little Bull Island, about his father, whose statue resides in the Museum on the Common, about skipping school in the woods of Mt. Pleasant, about three wives and four daughters.

He tells me about the good times before we talk about the bad.

“We’re just paying for fuel now,” he says. “It’ll get better if we hold out.” He’s been up since well before this hour and he’s been running this boat every day of the week, trying to maximize the return on the 7-month shrimp season. Many days, his has been the only shrimp boat on the water, out of a potential dozen or more that use Shem Creek as a base. “People are leaving the business. Some boats are tied up at the dock.” Other boats are damaged, uninsured, or abandoned. Staggering operating expenses and a low return on investment, for the past several years, is the rule.

Continued on page 2

Return to samples page