By DINA ARÉVALO
Port Isabel-South Padre Press
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com
Shouting out, “Bountiful catch! Lots of shrimp!” the Reverend Mark Watters raised his arm and sprinkled holy water in the direction of one shrimp boat after another during the Blessing of the Vessels Tuesday morning in Brownsville.
Watters, a resident of Selma, Alabama, has come to the Rio Grande Valley for the past 10 years to deliver a sermon and pray over shrimpers and their boats. “I get kingdom joy praying for safety, abundance of catch, and resurrection of industry,” he said shortly after completing a tour of the Brownsville Shrimp Basin aboard the Hermosa Cruz.
The Hermosa Cruz, itself a shrimp boat, made a circuit of the basin, turning into smaller channels in order to give Watters the opportunity to pray over as many of the more than 130 boats which operate out of the Basin. As it passed, shrimpers aboard other boats or on the docks quickly took notice of the priest, who wore white formal vestments that billowed in the strong breeze.
Many shrimpers raised their hands to wave or crossed themselves while offering silent bows of their heads as Waters himself made the sign of the cross in the air in blessing. “It’s a community within a community,” he said. “When we all come together, everyone gets blessed.”
Though a member of the clergy, Watters is no stranger to the shrimping industry. He is friends with the former director of the Brownsville-Port Isabel Shrimpers Association, Ivo Goga. It was that association which first led Watters to the Valley. Ten years ago Goga invited Watters to the very first Blessing of the Fleet. “It’s grown over the last 10 years,” Watters said. “The community has really taken a hold of it,” he said.
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