Getting the Shrimping Fleet and Crews Back to Work in Southwest Florida

Jennifer Schlueter

Resolve Marine has been onsite on San Carlos Island, Florida since October 2022. Home to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico’s pink shrimping industry, when Hurricane Ian hit landfall as a Category 4 storm on September 28, 2022, southwest Florida was devasted.

Resolve Marine initially mobilized to Fort Myers under a joint venture with its ASA member partner Northstar Marine. While working with various insurance groups to clear vessels from the area, Resolve was called to assist the Florida Department of Emergency Management (FDEM) with the recovery of the commercial fleet. The fleet of approximately 42 shrimp trawlers was heavily damaged with many boats either partially sunk or pushed high onto dry land. Katy Stewart, project manager with Resolve said, “We’ve refloated 25 boats, six vessels were deemed a total loss and deconstructed and disposed, and two additional refloats are underway. Assets and equipment we’re using includes roller bags, a heavy lift crane, the RMG 400, and a pulling barge to shift and refloat the vessels.” Stewart added, “More than 34,000 gallons of fuel was removed and 7,940 pounds of decomposing shrimp was cleared from vessel cargo holds.”

San Carlos Island in Lee County Florida is home to numerous fish processing and packing companies and the hurricane stranded hundreds of boats ashore across multiple sites, adding complexity to getting access agreements to various properties, each with different owners, including one co-op with 30 different members. Because all the vessels on the island were uninsured, the support of federal and state agencies was critical in helping get shrimpers back to work. It has been a team approach with Resolve working with salvage partners, FEDM, Federal Emergency