Lance Nacio stands dockside by his fishing vessel Anna Marie. (Photo credit: George Graham)
With his ever-present straw hat to keep the South Louisiana sun at bay, Lance Nacio is easy to spot. Lance fishes the Gulf waters out of his dockside home in Montegut, LA, in Terrebonne Parish. A third-generation fisherman, Lance grew up in Lafourche Parish, about an hour outside New Orleans. His family, like others on the bayou, made a living from the land. They shrimped, trapped, and grew much of what they ate in their backyard.
The Anna Marie has state-of-the-art, plate-freezing equipment on board. (Photo credit: Internet archive)
These days, his son David captains the Anna Marie, while his nephew Jake captains the Marissa Jolie, a converted shrimp boat that now brings in gulf finfish. Born Free, Caught Wild, Delivered Tomorrow is the slogan of Anna Marie Shrimp. Since 1998, the flagship has been the F/V Anna Marie (named for his daughters), a 55-foot vessel large enough to sustain rough weather and carry a sizable haul, while small enough to keep diesel costs down. This kind of inventive cost-conscious thinking has kept Anna Marie Shrimp in business through some tough times.
Lance with a vacuum-packed red snapper fillet. (photo credit: George Graham)
Most fishermen specialize in one seafood product; Lance is diversified with shrimp and a variety of finfish, including yellow edge grouper, red snapper, tilefish grouper cheeks, snapper collar, and softshell shrimp among his catch. All of these products are sold on his website at Anna Marie Shrimp.
Lance wears many hats: He does all of the shore-side work of marketing their products and keeps the boats in working order. Lance also runs a micro-processing plant at his Anna Marie Shrimp operation, where he fillets and vacuum-packs his fish products and packages his plate-frozen shrimp. Unlike most shrimp vessels, the F/V Anna Marie has a freezer onboard—ensuring that the product is as close to straight out of the water as possible.
When thawed, plate-frozen shrimp are as close to fresh as can be. Notice the legs and antennae are left intact. (Photo credit: George Graham)
Compared to the typical dockside freezing, the improvement in taste, texture, and color is unprecedented. The shrimp taste like they were never frozen.
Be sure to connect with Lance Nacio and many more coastal Louisiana fishermen by accessing the contact information on the Louisiana Direct Seafood website. It’s a free service, and it’s nice to know that you are helping to support the many fishing families that are the foundation of our Louisiana seafood industry.
Anna Marie Shrimp
1011 Highway 55
Montegut, LA 70377
985.209.2862
https://annamarieshrimp.com/
This Boat-To-Table series of stories, recipes, and information about our seafood industry is brought to you in support of Louisiana Direct Seafood, a free program of Louisiana Sea Grant and LSU Ag Center.
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Do you take orders for shrimp? How about fish? I’d love to know what you have and how much you charge.
Mary- Go to Louisiana Direct Seafood SHOP and buy all kinds of seafood. All the best.