Page 150 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2017

SEAFOOD INDUSTRY
History
A s Coast locals know, there’s nothing quite like fresh seafood. Take a look across the waters of the Mississippi Sound and you’ll catch the familiar sight of shrimp boats scattered over its glassy
story by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster
surface. The seafood industry is one of the pillars of the Mississippi Gulf Coast economy, as it has been since the 1800s.
In those days the Gulf provided its treasures only to local markets, largely due to issues of transportation. “Locally caught and processed seafood could not
be shipped to any market of great distance since there was no way to prevent spoilage,” said Deanne Stephens Nuwer in her Mississippi History Now article “The Seafood Industry in Biloxi: Its Early History.”
Years later, the solution came in the form of innovations such as the expansion of the railroad system, which joined New Orleans and Mobile, and the invention of artificial ice in the mid-19th Century. With these developments, broader commercialization of the industry became possible, leading to the Coast’s first canning factory in 1881.
“In 1890, an annual processing of two million pounds of oysters and 614,000 pounds of shrimp was reported by Biloxi’s canneries,” Nuwer wrote. “By 1902, those numbers had skyrocketed as twelve canneries reported a combined catch of 5,988,788 pounds of oysters and 4,424,000 pounds of shrimp.” By 1903, Biloxi, with a population of approximately 8,000, became known as “The Seafood Capital of the World.”
With the growth of the industry came more opportunities for employment. The seafood industry became a family affair, with a clear division of
labor along gender lines. “The male members of a household were boat owners or fishermen, while women and children of the family usually worked
in the factories,” Nuwer said. “The success of the seafood harvest was dependent on the entire family.”
According to Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum Executive Director Robin Krohn-David, these workers became the backbone of the coastal economy. “These men and women came from many countries looking for opportunities, and were committed to family
and tradition with an overwhelming will to succeed. Their stories tell the tale of centuries worth of history, culture and heritage,” she said.
Sources: Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum; Biloxi Historical Society; Mississippi History Now, an online publication of the Mississippi Historical Society
In 1848 Biloxi erected a lighthouse to guide fishermen safely home. Photograph of the Biloxi Lighthouse circa 1901. Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Shrimp-pickers at Gorenflo Canning Company in Biloxi. Photograph taken at 7 a.m., March 1911, by Lewis Wickes Hine. Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Factory owners built rows of shotgun clapboard houses, referred to as camps, to lodge seasonal workers. These are at Peerless Oyster Company in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. About 18 families lived here. March 1911 photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
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Oyster fishing schooner sails on
the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History