In a State where good food is about as big as football in the race for the most important personal preference this fall among its resident population, news that fresh Gulf shrimp, a standard throughout Texas, may be harder to find in the near future is devastating to the Guld shrimp lover, and could mean consumers will face elevated consumer prices next time they visit their favorite eatery for a plate of wild crustacean. The Texas shrimp industry is on the decline, and with fewer boats and smaller fleets heading into the Gulf this season. there will undoubtably be a shortage of fresh shrimp in stores and restaurants from Port Arthur to El Paso. An added worry is that as wild Gulf shrimp becomes more in demand than in supply, restaurants and stores will turn more to imported and mostly farm-raised shrimp as a replacement, further degrading the reason to order a plate of shrimp next time you eat out at your favorite shrimp dive. Abandoned and almost forgotten shrimp boats line the Brownsville Shrimp Basin, a sad sign that the Texas shrimping industry continues its decline on the heels of high fuel prices and strict immigration laws. Carlton Reyes, President of the Brownsville-Port Isabel Shrimp Producers Association, says only about 160 of the 220 shrimp boats in the basin will head out into the Gulf this year, an indication that the industry in a serious decline. A decade ago, that number was about 350 shrimp boats. “It's not just the cost of fuel, but we don't have enough workers to crew the fleet,” Reyes said this week as he busied himself with preparing his boats for another shrimp season. Last year, immigration politicians and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus derailed legislation to renew an exemption that allowed temporary workers from Mexico to work on shrimp boats, shutting the door on tens of thousands of temporary workers and dealing a blow to a range of industries that depend on foreign labor. “There were more than 8,000 shrimping boats in the Gulf and Atlantic waters of the U.S. coast at one time,” reports a spokesman for the Southern Shrimp Alliance, representing shrimpers in eight states. “Last year, that number was down to 1,100 boats, and this year it will shrink even further.” In addition to labor problems, Reyes says it takes about $75,000 to fill a shrimp boat with fuel. With escalating fuel costs, shrimpers have been forced to buy fuel in Mexico. But even that move has failed to save a declining industry. Some businesses have only a portion of their fleet at sea, while others have called it quits altogether. “There's no profit to it anymore. It's a gamble as to whether you can even break even once you sail out of the basin, and the price of shrimp has declined from about $5 a pound (wholesale) to $3.50 a pound because there is so much farm raised and foreign shrimp on the market,” adds one of Reyes crewman. Largely to blame, say industry experts, are farm raised shrimp from China. Often these shrimp are raised in unsanitary ponds and are force-fed to increase size. “But you can easily taste the difference,” Reyes says, pointing to a bumper sticker on the back of his truck that reads `Friends don't allow friends to eat imported shrimp.' Most residents on the Texas Gulf coast continue to buy fresh Gulf shrimp, not only for the taste but to help support an industry that has long flourished in Texas coastal waters. But across the nation, Americans and restaurant owners are opting for imported shrimp to save on the budget, a move that Reyes says is killing the U.S. and Texas shrimp industries.