By Kristen George

WILLIAMSBURG—South Carolina’s shrimping industry could receive a much-needed boost as early as next season from a new shrimp processing and bio-tech company that plans to open in Williamsburg County.

The South Carolina Shrimp Processing and Seafood Co. has launched a major funding effort so it can break ground on a facility near Kingstree. The company has pledged to purchase locally and regionally harvested shrimp, which it will process and package for sale in regional grocery stores and markets.  In addition, the company will produce an environmentally friendly bio-tech product out of a byproduct from the shrimp shells known as chitosan.

Chitosan is a non-toxic, non-hazardous, biodegradable product derived from chitin, which is a naturally occurring biopolymer extracted from crustacean shells. It has a makeup similar to cellulose, a plant fiber, and therefore has many characteristics of plant fibers. Because of this, chitosan has dozens of applications including cosmetics, beauty and personal care products, food additives and medical materials.

The company will focus on one application initially: an environmentally safe plant coating that makes plants hardier and more resistant to disease and insect damage. The product is applied during the plants’ growing phase and will increase crop yield while decreasing the necessity for pesticides and herbicides. Bristow says the product is inexpensive to manufacture and therefore will be very affordable for farmers to purchase. In addition, the product is easy to apply using equipment farmers already likely own.

“We’re hoping to get it certified for organic farming,” said company scientist James Bristow.

If all the funding effort goes as planned, the company should break ground in June with the likelihood of opening in time for the 2008 shrimping season. It would serve as the only value-added shrimp processing plant in the state. The value-added products include coconut, breaded, butterflied and partially peeled shrimp, for example.

The South Carolina shrimping industry has been devastated in the last five years with a 75% loss of its shrimpers. Because there currently aren’t any local processing plants, whatever shrimp can’t be sold off the docks to seafood markets or at roadside stands must be quickly iced and packaged to be sold to the closest processing and packaging companies, which are in the Gulf region. Because truckers’ fees must be added into the total cost, the shrimpers are forced to sell at a price often much lower than the market price.

Richard DeMarco, president of the South Carolina Shrimp Processing and Seafood Co., said he hopes to be able to double what the shrimpers are currently making.

“What we’re doing is taking out the middle man. We’ll purchase the shrimp directly from the docks and hopefully we can double what the shrimpers are currently getting paid for their shrimp,” DeMarco said. “We’re not philanthropists, but because we’re cutting layers out of this process we’re able to pay the shrimpers a fair amount of money for their shrimp.”

By processing and packaging regionally harvested shrimp, the company is creating a new consumer product which now is virtually unavailable. Most shrimp, especially frozen shrimp, currently sold in grocery stores nationwide is foreign, pond-raised shrimp from Asia.

“We have an outstanding food product on our coast, but every frozen shrimp product in the grocery stores is made from foreign shrimp,” said Georgia Tisdell, spokeswoman for the S.C. Shrimpers Association. “This company really seems to care about American shrimpers. If they do what they say they are going to do, this could have a huge impact on the industry.”

In addition to helping the shrimping industry, the company also has potential to make a significant impact on depressed Williamsburg County, where each day anywhere from 500 to 700 of the county’s residents bus 70 miles to Myrtle Beach to work mostly seasonal minimum wage jobs, according to F. Hilton McGill, the county’s executive director. Having fought high unemployment rates for years, McGill said the county has faced recent turmoil with the loss of more than 300 jobs in the county due to the downsizing of nearby companies Wellman Industries and Firestone, as well as the closing of Milliken & Co.

If the South Carolina Shrimp Processing and Seafood Co. opens as intended, about 250 jobs will be created that should pay well over minimum wage, Noble said. Williamsburg County has given the company 15 acres of land in the Tri-Area Business Center off U.S. Highway 521 near Kingstree. The company also has partnered with the S.C. Department of Commerce, Santee Electric, Palmetto Economic Development Corp., the Federal Economic Development Authority and the S.C. Shrimpers Association, along with support from Williamsburg County Council, the state Legislative delegation and U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.

“There has been a substantial partnership created to ensure this project’s success and we appreciate the dedication of all of our partners,” McGill said. “It’s really a win-win-win situation for everybody.”