A shrimp boat captain was missing after his boat capsized and sank in the Brownsville, Texas, ship channel July 12, the Coast Guard reported.
Television station KRGV identified the captain as Eduardo Perez, who was missing after a a 55-square mile search by the Coast Guard, Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Brownsville Fire Department. Fire officials described Perez as Hispanic, 240 pounds and was last seen wearing black shorts and a blue shirt.
The department’s dive team searched in low visibility and depths of 40 feet, the department reported on social media.
Shrimp trawling season in the western Gulf of Mexico off Texas opened 30 minutes after sunset July 15, after the annual 60-day season closing, federal fisheries officials said.
The opening covers federal waters from 9 to 200 nautical miles off Texas. Shrimp fishing closes in spring annually to allow brown shrimp to reach a larger and more valuable size prior to harvest, and to prevent waste of brown shrimp that might otherwise be discarded because of their small size.
This year the fishery closed on May 15 for the 60-day closure limit set by Texas regulations. The re-opening date for Texas waters is based on results from biological sampling by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and an assessment of maximum tidal durations.
