The Secret Brine Shrimping of The Great Salt Lake

The Great Salt Lake has been receiving national headlines in the past year due to its shrinking to half of its regular capacity and the real possibility of it drying up. Stories point out the potential ecological disaster a Salt Lake City without the lake might cause. One aspect that hasn’t been much discussed is its massive brine shrimp industry. If you weren’t even aware this industry existed, nor even knew there were fishermen on the Great Salt Lake, you are not alone. 

First off, how could an animal the length of a child’s thumbnail; a crustacean that would fail to make a decent shrimp cocktail for a mouse, be described as a massive industry?

It turns out that not unlike the men of yore who fished the mighty whales on the Baering Straight for their valuable oil, brine fishermen are a rare breed of men who harpoon the tiny shrimp on the saline waters of the Great Salt Lake—actually, not harpoons but very fine nets have been found to be the most efficient means of capturing the shrimp. Still, artists and filmmakers have imagined the havoc a giant brine shrimp might wreak on Salt Lake City.

Visit UtahStories.com for the rest of the story and to subscribe to our free digital newsletter. There you can also support our journalism by subscribing to our print magazine for $3 per month.

Follow us on:
Instagram @UtahStories
Twitter @UtahStories