The Commercial Gulf Shrimp Season is set to start on July 15, according to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

The shrimp season reopening comes after the annual mid-May closure of the commercial shrimp season to allow the shrimp to get bigger.

It also comes as shrimpers face many challenges, according to Zimco Marine Captain Ricardo Coronado Rodriguez.

“We set out for 40, 50 days, we come back we rest for a week, eight, 10 days, and we set out again,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez has been a shrimp boat captain for 25 years. His crew and others along the Gulf of Mexico are getting ready for the start of the shrimping season.

A pastor blessed the shrimpers and their boats in a Wednesday ceremony.

“We go out and sometimes we get hurt… but we have to do it,” Rodriguez said.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller was among those attending the blessing. 

“This is dangerous work,” Miller said. “It’s a job that’s not for everybody, you gotta be real tough.”

On top of potential dangers, Rodriguez said the industry as facing many issues.

Issues include fewer workers, Rodriguez said.

"People are no longer motivated because of the prices,” Rodriguez said. “Now, thank God prices are going up. Before, there wasn't much motivation to come shrimping — they were earning more on land than when they were fishing.”

Miller is encouraging the public to support businesses using shrimp caught in the Gulf instead of imported shrimp.

“We want to support wild caught shrimp, we're battling farm raised shrimp,” Miller said. “It’s inferior, it’s raised in deplorable conditions, and it’s not healthy. There’s nothing more healthy that wild caught gulf shrimp.”

Watch the video above for the full story.