For the shrimpers of Bayou La Batre, Alabama, mining the waters for tiny pieces of "saltwater gold" is a treacherous, 24/7 job. But there's more to shrimping than bringing in the day's haul. History is made daily as they fight to save a uniquely American way of life.
BIG SHRIMPIN', a new 8-part series premiering Thursday, November 17, at 10 p.m. on HISTORY(R), follows a group of longtime employees of Dominick Ficarino, owner of the most successful business in Bayou La Batre, Dominick's Seafood. Over the course of several months, the captains and crews of three of Dominick's boats show what it takes to shrimp and demonstrate how something so little can create such big problems. Working 40 days at a stretch and sometimes 48 hours straight, the crews battle unforgiving elements, equipment breakdowns, injuries, competing boats and even each other.
There is deep history within the tradition of American shrimping. Born and raised in the shrimping industry, Dominick's fourth generation family business is determined to rebound from the widespread devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill. At a time when close to 90% of the shrimp in America comes from outside the U.S., he's fighting to keep the industry alive.
Dominick's loyal crews are willing to risk it all to sustain their way of life and keep Bayou La Batre afloat. Captain Redbone, 35 years in the business, is the one Dominick depends on to haul in the most shrimp. At 32, Captain Bullfrog, the "shrimp whisperer," is Dominick's youngest captain. Captain Roundhead claims he was once the best in the biz, but he's had some hard seasons and is looking for redemption. Away from home and family for months at a time, these pros never stop, never give in, and never give up.
BIG SHRIMPIN' is produced for HISTORY by Pilgrim Studios. Craig Piligian and Eddie Rohwedder are Executive Producers and David Barsky is Co-Executive Producer for Pilgrim Studios. Susan Werbe is Executive Producer for HISTORY.
HISTORY(R) and HISTORY(R) HD are the leading destinations for revealing, award-winning original non-fiction series and event specials that connect history with viewers in an informative, immersive and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. Programming covers a diverse variety of historical genres ranging from military history to contemporary history, technology to natural history, as well as science, archaeology and pop culture. Among the network's program offerings are hit series such as American Pickers, Ax Men, American Restoration, Ice Road Truckers, Top Gear, Pawn Stars and Top Shot, as well as acclaimed specials including Gettysburg, America the Story of Us, WWII in HD, 102 Minutes That Changed America and Life After People. HISTORY has earned four Peabody Awards, seven Primetime Emmy(R) Awards, 12 News & Documentary Emmy(R) Awards and received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's Save Our History(R) campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. Take a Veteran to School Day is the network's signature initiative connecting America's schools and communities with veterans from all wars. The HISTORY website, located at www.history.com, is the leading online resource for all things history, featuring over 20,000 videos, images, audio clips, articles and interactive features that allow visitors to dig deeper into a broad range of thousands of historical topics.
Videos