President Elect Kristin Keller, filling in for President Lynn King, called the meeting to order and welcomed all.
Kevin Courtney offered the prayer and led the pledge to the flag.
Announcements:
Founders Night - June 19, Spring Lake - Steve Stauffer has sent out invitations via email and needs to know how many are coming so he can give a count to the caterer. Please respond asap. If you have not gotten the invite, check your spam, otherwise contact Steve.
Scholarships - Bev James reported that there were two applicants. Both applicants were very impressive, being well rounded, poised and very deserving. The scholarship was awarded to Madeline Politzer (spelling???). She is very excited and appreciative and has chosen to attend Clemson. She will be attending one of our meetings in the future.
Sergeant at Arms, Suzi Oliver collected Happy $$$
Speaker:
Suzi introduced our speaker Al Stokes.
Al is the retired Director of Waddell Mariculture Center. He retired after more than three decades of working with shrimp. He began by speaking of the population growth in our area and the challenge of treating our drinking water to remove many toxins such as pharmaceuticals. The City of Atlanta GA is looking to also get water from the Savannah River. An expert on shrimp, he told us there are more than 3,000 species of shrimp!!
There are 3 species that are native - brown, white, and pink. The Waddell Mariculture R&D Center has studied and produced eight species, including the three, to determine shrimp performance and production potential. The US consumes 1.5 billion pounds of shrimp a year and about 90% is imported from places like China, Thailand, Viet Nam, Taiwan, etc. Red Lobster and Darden purchase 5% of all farmed shrimp. Good quality shrimp food is expensive, and must be used to produce healthy shrimp. Bloodworms is one thing fed because it is high in amino acids and is required to reproduce. Females are tagged and monitored. If they are not producing, they are removed (and become dinner). Mr. Stokes showed many pictures of shrimp farms, including the pristine Waddell Shrimp farm which produces three crops a year. They have also grown Tilapia fish which is another product that is only as good as the food that it is fed. Fascinating subject and much to know about quality shrimp and fish farming. You can learn more by visiting the Waddell Mariculture Center website : www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/mrri/waddell