Brine Shrimp Industry
The Great Salt Lake brine shrimp industry can trace its roots to a 1951 ad in The Aquarium from C.C. Sanders, who had experimented with feeding brine shrimp to his Siamese fighting fish and in the results saw a new industry. Once orders started rolling in, he discovered it was easier to harvest the cysts, rather than the live brine shrimp, which could then be cleaned, processed, stored, and later hatched into live young. The industry grew, the 1980s represented a series of ‘Wild West days’, with spotter-plane traffic growing so dangerous over the lake that the military decided to get involved with air traffic control. The state also decided to step in, after fears that the breakneck competition was going to shrimp the Lake dry. The state passed laws that would require commercial permits for brine shrimpermen beginning with the 1991/1992 season. Each permit would allow the operator a three boat operation, and when the number of permits were capped at 79 in 1996, the total fleet would also be capped. In addition, the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program (GSLEP) was established within the Division of Wildlife Resources to monitor shrimp populations in the Lake, funded by permitting fees and the royalties the fishermen paid to the state as a percentage of their catch. The GSLEP monitored population levels during the harvest season, and when the population density reached a certain threshold, eventually set at twenty-one cysts per liter, the season was over. The various commercial permit holders eventually coalesced into a cooperative.
Click here for the full oral history with Jim Van Leeuwen
Jim Van Leeuwen was born in Salt Lake grew up mostly at Dugway Proving Grounds, where his parents were civilian employees. After graduating from high school, he did landscaping and other jobs before injuring his back. Following his injury, he attended Weber State University, where he received a degree in zoology and criminal justice. Jim is an avid outdoorsman and loves wildlife. He works for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources’ Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program. In this interview, Jim talks about his weekly boating expeditions at the GSL to check brine shrimp and other conditions. He shares his experiences getting caught in bad weather on the lake, and discusses the work he does when he’s not checking lake conditions at the lake. Jim describes the brine shrimp collection and monitoring process in detail, and finishes the interview with a brief discussion of Seabase, a scuba diving and lobster raising area near Grantsville.
Click here for the full oral history with John Luft
John Luft, Director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources’ Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program, was born in Bucklin, Kansas, to a farming family. He grew up farming, fishing and hunting, and credits his father and grandfather for instilling in him a love of the outdoors, as well as a sense of stewardship. While pursuing his education at Kansas State University in wildlife biology, John farmed off and on, and worked seasonally in wildlife management in Colorado. He then moved to Utah to take a seasonal job with the Division of Wildlife. After years of seasonal work, he took a full-time job in Utah working with waterfowl. He went on to fill Don S. Paul’s spot as an avian biologist with the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program, becoming the Director in 2007. In this interview, John discusses his origins, life, and work. He explains the GSLEP, describes the Belovsky brine shrimp model, and discusses the complex task of managing the Great Salt Lake’s resources. He mentions his concern that management of the lake is moving from proactive to reactive due to climate change and other pressures. But he also notes the rise in cooperation between state, the federal government, industry, universities, and nonprofits in managing the lake’s resources.
Click here for the full oral history with Don Paul
Don Paul was born in Cedar City, Utah. He was raised in Clearfield and graduated from Weber State University. He later worked as a conservation officer for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and then as an information specialist. He also worked on a television program called “Utah Trails” and participated in writing a book on raptors in Utah. Don was the first non-game manager in Utah for the DWR and was the principal biologist for the reintroduction of Peregrines to northern Utah. He then became Chief of the Information Education Section before becoming a wildlife biologist for the Great Salt Lake. Don also became the first avian biologist with the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Project. In this interview, Don talks about his formative years and his parents’ influence on his love of the outdoors. He also talks about his first experiences exploring the Great Salt Lake. He discusses his education, which led him to a career as a biologist. He also discusses the Great Salt Lake’s ecological diversity, complexity, and importance, and compares it with other similar ecosystems in the world. Mr. Paul goes on to discusses the changes he has seen to the Great Salt Lake, as well as challenges to its ecosystem. He also describes his work with the Linking Communities Program.
Click here for the full oral history with Kyle Stone
Kyle Stone was born in Ogden, Utah. He is a lifelong Weber County resident and graduated from Fremont High School in Plain City. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in zoology at Weber State University, where he worked for Dr. John Cavitt in the avian ecology lab. Kyle has worked for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources since 2010 and is a biologist with Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program, working mostly with brine shrimp and birds. In this interview, Kyle describes his daily and seasonal work as a biologist. He also discusses giving school presentations, including regular fishery classes for the DWR at Brigham Young University.
Click here for the full oral history with Genevieve Atwood and Don Mabey
Genevieve Atwood and Don Mabey discuss their involvement with the Great Salt Lake. They talk about their early experiences with the lake, and when and why they became interested in it. They describe their educational training and interests in science. Atwood discusses her career with the Utah Geological Survey, her contribution to several boards involved with the Great Salt Lake, and her time in the Utah State Legislature. She describes many of the lake’s important historical and geographical features, and the lake’s processes. She talks about her involvement in the management of the lake. Don talks about his work helping manage and plan for the Great Salt Lake. Atwood discusses the high lake level times, as well as many of the plans to control the lake level. In the second interview, Atwood talks about the causeway and its effects on the Great Salt Lake. She discusses the high lake level years. She describes the map of the Great Salt Lake that she, Mabey, and Don Currey designed and produced. Atwood talks about leaving the UGS and her time in the state legislature. She talks about the management of Great Salt Lake. She details the educational work she does with teachers and students about and at the Great Salt Lake. Don and Genevieve talk about their favorite places and experiences at the Great Salt Lake.
Click here for the full oral history with Gary Belovsky
Gary Belovsky conducted a 20-year study with the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program on brine shrimp as an important food source for migratory birds, as well as the key component in the commercial brine shrimp industry. He took over the laboratory and modeling work for the project in the mid-90s, and his ecosystem model has been used to address and improve lake management in relation to the shrimp harvesting industry. Gary was born and raised in St. Charles, Illinois, and he received his PhD in biology from Harvard University. He taught at the Department of Fisheries & Wildlife at Utah State University, and began studying GSL ecology with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources in 1994. This led to developing a shrimp harvesting management strategy still used by the state of Utah today. In this interview, Gary talks about shrimp harvesting on the lake before regulations were put into place, how he and his team collected data over the course of the GSL study, and how the data collected led to the development of harvesting regulations currently used on the lake.
Click here for the full oral history with Tim Begue
Mr. Begue talks about his early life, and his first experiences at the Great Salt Lake when he went sailing with his family. He worked as a river guide, and his boss suggested they go into the brine shrimp business. Tim talks about fishing for brine shrimp and the business he started, Prime Artemia. He describes the overall process of brine shrimping, from the work and competition on the lake to the processing and distribution. Mr. Begue talks about industry on the lake and the process of acquiring a certificate of registration to fish. He sold his business in 1996. Finally, Tim describes some of his favorite places on Great Salt Lake and recounts some of his favorite experiences. In this clip he talks about brine shrimping on the North Arm of the Lake.
