- BIOLOGIST: It's a good day for sampling.
- JILLIAN SWINFORD: It is a good day for sampling.
- NARRATOR: It's early summer and shrimp are the hot topic
along the Texas coast.
Biologists are worried about some nasty shrimp bugs,
Black Gill disease...
- JILLIAN: Black Gill, it actually weakens them.
- NARRATOR: ...and White Spot Virus.
Harmless to humans, but scary for shrimp.
- White Spot is a very deadly disease.
It can kill shrimp within 24 hours.
- Shrimp look good!
If you had White Spot, ya know, if it was very prevalent,
you'd see it right in here in the shell area.
- NARRATOR: For those that rely on shrimp
for their livelihood...
- A quart of shrimp.
- NARRATOR: A virus that wipes out their
bread and butter-- that's a real concern.
- It's a domino effect,
ya know, our grocery stores,
the people that sell shrimp,
the people that eat shrimp,
Ya know, the people that catch shrimp.
I really hope that doesn't infect our waters, ya know.
Get her out there!
And it is scary!
- NARRATOR: Shrimp are worth millions to the Texas economy,
so protecting the resource and all who depend on it
calls for some serious shrimp science.
- So, I'm hoping for some slightly bigger ones.
It's a lot easier to dissect a bigger shrimp
than it is to dissect one that's this small.
- NARRATOR: Jillian Swinford is checking bays up and down
the Texas coast, taking samples.
- JILLIAN: This big statewide survey that we are doing
is very new to Texas, and this is the first time that
we've really been looking for Black Gill
and it's been a while since we've been
looking at White Spot disease,
so I think it's time to take another look.
- We'll run a little shallower water this time.
- JILLIAN: Ok.
- White Spot disease has been found in Wild Prawn stocks
off Morton Bay.
It's another major blow to Queensland's
$300 million dollar seafood industry after
the harmful virus devastated prawn farms in the southeast.
- NARRATOR: White Spot hit Australia in 2016.
- JILLIAN: White Spot is a disease that came from
shrimp farms.
You'll have 100% mortality.
- BIOLOGIST: Let's go ahead and pull it in!
- JILLIAN: We're worried about it getting into the ecosystem,
either through runoff from the farms or by using bait shrimp
that's been imported.
- NARRATOR: While White Spot hasn't been detected
in Texas yet...
- BIOLOGIST: That's a much better trawl!
- NARRATOR: ...Black Gill is here.
- What we're looking for in these shrimp
are clinical signs of disease.
They would have darkened gills,
but just because they don't have any discoloration,
doesn't mean that the disease isn't present in their system.
So that's why we gotta take these guys back to the lab.
Right now, I am removing the gill tissue.
It just likes to stick!
And with this gill tissue, we're going to extract DNA,
and if the diseases that we are looking for are present,
hopefully we can find them in the gill tissue.
[intriguing music]
Ultimately, I mean, the work I'm doing is to try to
help the populations we have and kind of monitor, ya know,
how much disease we're getting each year.
- NARRATOR: Linked to changes in water temperature
or salinity, Black Gill is a parasite that
weakens the shrimp's immune system.
- So, it is a concern, because these shrimp are
ultimately weaker, and so they may be more susceptible
to dying because they have this.
- NARRATOR: While Black Gill has been here for a while...
- See what we got here.
- NARRATOR: ...the deadly White Spot virus is a
relatively new threat.
- ROBERT: Ah, looking real healthy, good.
We've never had this happen ever, ya know,
in the Gulf Coast or Texas.
- NARRATOR: The easiest way to keep White Spot
out of our bays...
- How you doing, can I get one pound of shrimp please?
- NARRATOR: If you need bait shrimp, shop local.
- ROBERT: The best thing for the anglers to do is just make
sure they're using Texas or Gulf of Mexico shrimp,
any of our native shrimp are great to be used,
the browns, the pinks, the whites.
Just want to make sure you're not using any kind of foreign
or imported shrimp whatsoever.
- Appreciate it, thank you!
- NARRATOR: Foreign farm-raised shrimp bought from the store
are often not tested for White Spot.
- ROBERT: In other countries, they are not regulated like we
are here in the U.S., and when they get shipped into the U.S.,
very little get checked, ya know, to see what's
going on with them.
- NARRATOR: So that foreign shrimp should be cooked,
not put on a hook.
- It doesn't affect humans.
We can eat it all day long.
But somebody's going to use that shrimp for bait
and when they use that shrimp for bait,
then it infects our waters and so now we've got it.
Pop it a couple times and let it sit.
- NARRATOR: Sterling Branscum has been a fishing guide for
close to a decade.
- You make friends for life!
Ya know, fishing with people, and I really enjoy it.
- ANGLER: Ohhhh!
Got em!
- STERLING: Fish on!
For all that to go away, over a virus that
could be controlled, ya know.
if something like that did happen, it would just
be terrible.
That's probably a 18,19.
I would just like to see that not happen, ya know!
- NARRATOR: So that's why Jillian's out on the water.
- JILLIAN: Yeah, we got plenty!
- NARRATOR: Getting a baseline,
working to protect a resource we all enjoy!
- The main takeaway is that this can have a
very real environmental impact.
The shrimp are important commercially, recreationally,
but they are also important to the ecosystem as well.
So, we're trying to get ahead of this while we can!
[boat motor rumbles]