First of all, the traps are different from lobster traps. They are taller, heavier (4 bricks instead of 3), and the wire mesh is much weaker than that of lobster traps. The wire is of a smaller gauge and the mesh is finer, so that shrimp can't fit through it. This causes the
trap to be very susceptible to collapsing when exposed to any kind of pressure, whether it be from getting dragged in a shrimp net by a dragger or from the water pressure when the trap is hauled too
rapidly. The mesh size also makes these traps exceedingly difficult to handle. Lobster traps have a wide enough mesh so that one can fit one's fingers through it to handle (pick up and move) the trap. Not so with shrimp traps. Since you can't fit your fingers in the mesh, there is really only one way to lift the trap: by sticking one's hand into the trough and holding it from there. Some fishermen also put rope handles on one of the corners furthest from the bridle, so that you can lift with both hands.
The shrimp themselves are also very delicate critters. They are small and therefore they freeze
easily. This is not a problem if you're a dragger: the shrimp don't have to be alive when you get to the dock. However, if you are a trapper seeking the best market price possible, your shrimp need to be alive when they are unloaded from the boat. Therefore, the trays of shrimp need to be watered down with the seawater hose ever hour or so. The water also can't be too hot, though, so you have to water them down with the deck hose (which is fed from seawater that cools the engine) before a long steam, which has the effect of increasing the water temperature. We also secure lids on the trays to keep the wind off of them. On a really cold day I put a tarp over the trays with lids, to provide yet one more degree of protection from the bitter wind.
Shrimp also don't live long in a trap. Where lobsters can live for a week if not more when left in a trap (even without bait), shrimp really don't survive more than three nights when the population is as dense as it is in a trap. This means that you have to haul the traps (ideally on a 2 night set) regularly, regardless of weather, if you don't want the shrimp to die. Therefore, most shrimp trappers are out hauling virtually every day possible during the 5 or 6 weeks of good fishing. This makes for a very demanding, exhausting schedule. Shrimp fever.
Lastly the market. Oh the market! The shrimp market is the source of constant headaches and stress for shrimping captains. It is even more subjective and nonsensical than the lobster market. Frankly, I don't even begin to understand how it works on a large scale. All I know is that we sell to one company in one location. That company also buys in other locations on the Peninsula and offers a different price in each spot, according to convenience of shipping. We have to call by cell phone every day from the boat to make sure that they will buy our product. On any given day, the dock that we sell to could have reached their capacity of shrimp from other boats by the time that we steam in to the harbor. Luckily that hasn't happened this season, but last season there were horror stories of draggers getting turned away from the dock to which they've been loyal with thousands of pounds of shrimp on board. Not a happy situation. With that one company at that one location, we could receive one of three different price categories on a given day: dragged price, trapped price (usually 10 cents/lb more than dragged), or "boxed" price (the creme de la creme, probably being shipped to a sushi market). Furthermore, the price changes over the course of the season, just like the lobster market. It starts high and decreases during the peak of the season, and then creeps up again.
In other words, shrimping is a pain in the ass. Good exercize, yes. Working on the water, yes. But some of the most back-breaking work for the least reward of any fishery that I've experienced anyway.
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