Andrea Hance of San Benito picked a good time to take over as executive director of the Texas Shrimp Association, with Gulf shrimp prices at historic highs and nearly everyone with a trawler clambering for a piece of the action.

In contrast, the timing of her entry into the shrimping business itself was less

than stellar.

Hance and her husband, Preston, bought their first shrimp boat in 2007 — just in time for the industry, beset by foreign imports, to hit rock bottom. She recalls fetching an average of $1.65 a wholesale pound — pitiful compared to the $6.50

a pound shrimpers are getting today on average.

“It was probably the worst possible time for somebody to buy a shrimp boat,”

Hance said.

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