Shrimp imports threaten U.S. Gulf fleet
Published onSouthern shrimpers, facing record low prices, choose to stay at the dock. In places like Delacroix, La., shrimp fishermen are looking at $1.10 for 16 to 20 count brown shrimp. Last winter it was $3 a pound before the inshore season opened. We done alright. Then it started dropping $2.50, that was okay, says local fisherman, Vernon Alfonso. But now its so low we cant go. I had come to Delacroix to do an At Sea story, the plan was to go out shrimping with Ricky Serigne, but the day before I arrived, Rickys son Ryan called. Mr. Paul, he says. I know you want to go out fishing and write a story, but we got a different story for you if you want it. Why dont you come on down, well boil up some shrimp and crab, and Ill invite some people over to explain why were ...
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Forecast predicts smaller Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ this summer
Published onThe Gulf of Mexico dead zone a hypoxic area with low oxygen levels that are deadly to fish is predicted to be smaller than average this summer. The annual dead zonecovers about 5,364 square miles on average, but NOAA has forecasted that the area will be 23 percent smaller this year, covering just 4,155 square miles. The dead zone has occurred every summer for the last six years, caused primarily by excess nutrient pollution from human activities throughout the Mississippi watershed. Those excess nutrients lead to massive algae blooms in the gulf, which deplete oxygen in the water as the algae die, decompose, and sink to the bottom. The Associate Press reported that low oxygen levels had killed off tens of thousands of fish in the gulf already,with tens of thousands washing upon the Texas coast over the weekend. This is the sixth year that NOAA has ...
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Congressman asks U.S. to buy Gulf-caught shrimp
Published onLake Charles, LA (KPLC) - Its estimated nine out of ten shrimp consumed in the U.S. are imports. Congressman Clay Higgins is trying to help shrimpers get relief from low prices this season. For many years Southwest Louisiana shrimpers have complained foreign shrimp imports are killing their industry. Read more
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S.C. fleet harvesting large white shrimp as season gets underway
Published onCraig Reaves loves his office: The southern coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The owner of Beaufort-based Sea Eagle Market was among 20 shrimp boat captains who were at work Thursday, plying the waters near Pritchards Inlet near Fripp Island. It was opening day of the commercial shrimp trawling season, which is a big deal in a state where shrimp is the favorite Seafood and cities name festivals in honor of the delicious crustaceans. Read more
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Post-Hurricane Ian: Funding Rejected for Florida Fishermen
Published onFlorida fishermen all around the state are on the edge of their seats, hoping to gain some good news about the fishing industry's future. Those in Lee County are furious that the federal agency NOAA Fisheries has rejected DeSantis fishery disaster request. In late September 2022, Hurricane Ian destroyed nearly all of Lee County, which led to mass destruction of the fishing industry within and around Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Sanibel Island, and Pine Island Sound. The western side of Florida has been devastated by the damage that Ian had caused. On October 15, 2022, Governor DeSantis was joined by fishing captains from southwest Florida to show his support for the fishing industry's road to recovery. To get the fishing industry back on its feet, DeSantis requested the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to issue a federal fisheries disaster. The request would have provided federal funding to allow ...
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Icehouse closure riles shrimpers in Delcambre, La.
Published onSome fishermen in Delcambre are expressing their concerns after several employees were laid off from their jobs at Ocean's Havest, a seafood wholesaler on Monday. According to Port Director, Wendell Verret, officials from a company called Fortune Fish Gourmet, based in Illinois terminated several employees and sent them home with severance paperwork during a meeting. Read moreSome fishermen in Delcambre are expressing their concerns after several employees were laid off from their jobs at Ocean's Havest, a seafood wholesaler on Monday. According to Port Director, Wendell Verret, officials from a company called Fortune Fish & Gourmet, based in Illinois terminated several employees and sent them home with severance paperwork during a meeting. Read more
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Louisiana shrimpers struggling to survive low prices
Published onHackberry, LA (KPLC) - Last week, shrimpers from across Louisiana held a rally at the State Capitol, blaming foreign imports for overcrowding the market. Youre not breaking even right now, youre in the red. Matter of fact, youre below the red. I just dont know what else to do, Hackberry shrimper Kenny Kellum said. Read more
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Going the direct route
Published onCapturing higher returns from the retail market helps keep some fishermen afloat. San Diego spot prawn fisherman Shane Slaughter never intended to meet the people who eat his catch, but the covid-19 pandemic forced his hand. We had fuel, groceries, and were getting ready to head out. I called my wholesaler to let him know, says Slaughter. He didnt call me back until the next day, and said they werent able to buy. Everything was shut down. Up until March 2020, Slaughter had sold everything wholesale. Wed come in, load the prawns onto a truck, get a check and head back out again. We didnt even think about the end user. But faced with the loss of his market, Slaughter had to come up with a plan. While Californias restaurants were shut down, essential businesses were allowed to stay open that meant groceries stores and any place that sold ...
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California dreamers are drawn to a Maine boatshop
Published onFarrins Boatshop in Walpole, Maine, is finishing off two fiberglass hulls as sportfishing boats, though the term sportfishing doesnt accurately describe one of the boats, a 46 x 15 Muscle Ridge for a California owner in the Santa Barbara area. True, its being built as a family cruiser, which explains items of creature comfort, such as freezer, refrigerator and microwave oven encountered while going from the pilot house into the main salon, along with heating and air conditioning. But not the 14-inch hauler that will be aft of the main salons bulkhead, the hull sheathing below what will be the hauling station or the open stern encased in stainless steel. Those features will come into play when the boats owner retires and fully takes advantage of his crab, lobster, tuna, salmon and shrimp permits. This is not the first boat Farrin has sent to California constructed on a Maine ...
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Gulf shrimp landings data showing rebound in Louisiana and decline in Texas
Published onThe Fishery Monitoring Branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center released preliminary shrimp landings data from the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic for November 2022. As with the agencys reporting since July of last year, the numbers released by NOAA include substantial revisions, with reporting for the years prior to 2022 reflecting final totals tabulated by the agency. Because NOAAs reporting for November 2022 remains preliminary in nature, the Southern Shrimp Alliance presents this data in the historical context of the agencys previously reported preliminary figures. This means that in the summary charts prepared by the Southern Shrimp Alliance, the historical figures for the month of November in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 do not correspond to the numbers now being reported by NOAA. LouisianaLandings,November2002‐2022(thousandsofpounds,HLSO‐weight) NOAA image. The preliminary data indicates that over 9.0 ...
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Imports killing shrimp prices
Published onTheres nothing new in this story. According to Jeremy Zirlott, a vessel owner and shrimp wholesaler in Bayou La Batre, Ala., decades of World Bank subsidies have led to a glut of farmed shrimp coming into the US from Ecuador, India, Thailand and elsewhere. They just announced another loan to Ecuador, says Zirlott, who has been tracking the numbers for years. I scream about it, but I can hardly get anyone to listen. Even the Southern Shrimp Alliance is not really aware. The $45 million dollar loan that the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, made to a major Ecuadoran shrimp farm company, Industrial Pesquera Santa Prescilla SA, in August 2022 is just one of many. The same company received $15 million the year before from the Luxemborg-based, eco-business fund, and the total amount of loans to Ecuador shrimp producers amounts to over a billion ...
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Recipes for the Boat: Roasted Shrimp with Rosemary and Thyme
Published onOne of the simplest yet most satisfying meals has to be shrimp. It's one of those quick walk-in-the-door, last-minute meals that you can make anytime with fresh or frozen shrimp. They don't take but a few minutes to cook and they are such a treat!This is hardly a recipe at all and it's one of my favorite methods to produce perfectly even cooked shrimp. The hands-off method is foolproof and ridiculously easy. And that's exactly why I wanted to start my first column with it. This recipe is perfect for those of you on the water, whether you're a commercial fisherman like my husband Ole and I, or just enjoying a day out on the boat.When we're out on the water for weeks at a time, I have to get creative with my ingredients and cooking methods ...
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To the Sea
Published onMy whole life has had the same expectation to be the person standing on the dock and waving goodbye either to my dad or my husband, but I was never allowed to be the person on the boat going off on the fishing adventure. From my early age this bias was evident: men could go fishing and women stayed home keeping everything else going until the boats return. In fact, my brother was often forced to go fishing as a punishment whenever he was suspended from school or due to any other general disruption at home with our mom. His punishment of knowing he would spend the next few days puking off the side of the boat rail. But even with his complaints about the sea, he would tell me of the best adventures, like seeing sharks at night and porpoises swimming off the bow and how it felt to ...
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Amid wrecked shrimping fleet, Biden and DeSantis promise unified response
Published onDeclaring were here to make sure the people of Florida get what they need, President Biden stood at the wrecked fishing port behind Fort Myers Beach this week, joining his political rival Gov. Ron DeSantis in pledging an accelerated recovery after Hurricane Ian. Were the only nation on Earth that can come out of something like this better than we were before, Biden said in an informal, earnest televised talk after he and DeSantis were briefed on damage assessments and recovery efforts. The setting was close to Trico Shrimp Company and other commercial docks on San Carlos Island, the maritime industrial side of the Fort Myers Beach resort community. Bulldozed by the storm surge as high as 18 feet, beach neighborhoods are still the scene of intense searching for victims. Biden said the federal government moved more pre-positioned assets and rescue teams into Florida than for any previous emergency ...
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NOAA says no to rock shrimp trawling at the Oculina Coral Reef
Published onOne of the world's first marine protected areas dating back to 1984, the Ocullina Coral Reef was about to be opened to rock shrimp trawling. But National Marine Fisheries Service has rejected that option over potential damage to the reef ecosystem. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council proposed Amendment 10 to its coral and reefs management plan. It came as a surprise to conservation groups, as it suggested the opening part of the Oculina Coral Reef, a 90-mile strip of reefs off the central east coast of Florida, to fishing activities. In 1984 the council designated part of the Oculina Bank as protected habitat, prohibiting use of bottom trawls, bottom longlines, dredges, fish traps, and to mitigate the risk of damage by fishing gear to Oculina coral. In 2000, the council further expanded the protected area, and again in 2014 when it extended the protected area northward including ...
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Biden pushes for Gulf of Mexico wind power
Published onNearly 1,150 square miles in the western Gulf of Mexico are proposed for offshore wind energy areas, as President Biden said he would do everything within his executive powers to act on climate issues and developing cleaner energy. With heat waves nationwide putting 100 million Americans in 90 degree-plus temperatures this week, Biden went to the site of a former coal plant in coastal Massachusetts July 20 to announce a new push on offshore wind. The cumulative effect of climate change is definitely a clear and present danger, Biden said at Brayton Point in Somerset, Mass., where the old generating site is being redeveloped to manufacture power cables for wind projects off southern New England. We see it in America, in red states and blue states, said Biden, seeing 100-year droughts happening every few years and massive damage from hurricanes. This is an emergency and Ill look ...
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