Fishermen

Covid-19 Effects On Maine Lobster Industry Has Lessons For Gulf Fishermen

Covid-19 Effects On Maine Lobster Industry Has Lessons For Gulf Fishermen

Since 2020 COVID-19 has significantly impacted the entire U.S seafood industry.  In the Gulf of Mexico oyster, shrimp and finfish fishermen were just a few of the hardest hit.  In Maine, the lobster fishery suffered a similar fate.  It is important to realize Gulf fishermen are not alone in their struggles to recover.

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Point-au-Chien Fishing Tribe Fights To Recover From Hurricane Ida And Gain Federal Recognition

Point-au-Chien Fishing Tribe Fights To Recover From Hurricane Ida And Gain Federal Recognition

Standing on the porch of the tribal community center six months after Hurricane Ida pummeled his community, Donald Dardar still chokes-up as he remembers seeing the remains of his village for the first time. The area, home to a fishing community of more than 800 Point-au-Chien Native Americans, endured some of the hurricane’s worst destruction leaving in its path unanswered questions on whether to rebuild in an area that is ground zero for the climate crisis.

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Cancer Spreading Through Louisiana Waterways Could Be Eradicated By Mouth

Cancer Spreading Through Louisiana Waterways Could Be Eradicated By Mouth

A silent and deadly cancer is spreading throughout the bayous and rivers of Louisiana; as well as Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri all the way to Illinois, Minnesota and the gates of the Great Lakes. Asian carp has overtaken the Mississippi River System threatening the ecosystem, as well as multi-million dollar recreational and commercial fishing industries.

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Community Comes Together to Feed the Fleet in Golden Meadows

Community Comes Together to Feed the Fleet in Golden Meadows

The  cold north wind blew through the open Oak Ridge Community Park shelter in Golden Meadow like an express train passing a through a station.  A sweater-clad chef stirred a huge pot of gumbo, while others wearing red aprons with the familiar Shell logo served fried catfish and French fries.  At a table at the end, King Cakes anchored a paper tablecloth whipping in the constant breeze.  But it was the smiles of the fishermen filling their plates that would be most remembered by the volunteers from across Louisiana

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Rep. Graves Asks Commerce For Expedited Fishery Disaster Determination

Rep. Graves Asks Commerce For Expedited Fishery Disaster Determination

A recently released report detailing infrastructure, revenue and resource loss to Louisiana Fisheries have prompted a Louisiana Congressmen to ask the Department of Commerce (DOC) to expedite a Fishery Disaster Determination due to major damage related to impacts of Hurricanes Laura, Delta, Zeta and especially Ida.

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Scarce Bait May Cause Even Scarcer Crawfish for Easter

Scarce Bait May Cause Even Scarcer Crawfish for Easter

God gave Louisiana crawfish and Gulf Menhaden to catch them.  What God failed to do is correctly synchronize the seasons for their harvest.  For the first time crawfish may not be on the Easter dinner menu because bait dealers have ran dry on fish in their warehouses.

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Houma Oysterman’s Life Left in Shambles by Hurricane Ida

Houma Oysterman’s Life Left in Shambles by Hurricane Ida

For more than six hours fifth-generation Houma oysterman Jacob David Hulse, his girlfriend Lindsey Willis and his dog Change huddled in an the oyster shop of friend Kenneth (Keno) Templet struggling to keep the walls and roof from caving as the more than 140-mph winds of Hurricane Ida continuously battered away at the structure.  When the winds started to subside, Hulse thought he had gone through the worse of it.  Like many Louisiana fishermen are finding out, his troubles were only beginning after the storm was finished.

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Delcambre Shrimper Looses Boat, Livelihood and Dignity As Provider

Delcambre Shrimper Looses Boat, Livelihood and Dignity As Provider

For every hurricane during the past 40-years Preston Dore has rode out the storms at the Delcambre docks on his shrimp boat. After Katrina, Gustav, Isaac and a host of others, both he and the boat have walked away mostly unscathed. Hurricane Ida was different. The storm has cost him his boat, his livelihood and has stripped away his dignity as a provider for his family.

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For Fisherman It’s All About Ice; As Well As Food, Water, Shelter and Fuel

For Fisherman It’s All About Ice; As Well As Food, Water, Shelter and Fuel

Hurricane Ida struck the heart of Louisiana’s seafood industry as a Category 4 hurricane, wiping out homes, boats, trucks, plants and icehouses. Oyster farmers on Grand Isle lost their entire crop, processing plants from Grand Isle to Dulac lay in ruin and almost 30% of the shrimping fleet in Golden Meadow lay useless at the start of current shrimp season. “If the Louisiana seafood industry is to have any life at all in the near future,” said Gulf Seafood Foundation board member Ewell Smith, “it is all about ice.”

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Fishermen Help Fishermen Find Relief From Hurricane Laura Disaster

Fishermen Help Fishermen Find Relief From Hurricane Laura Disaster

The destructive winds and storm surge of Hurricane Laura are now unwanted memories. Repairing shattered homes, businesses and lives along the storms path in southwestern Louisiana remain the task at hand. To easy the pain fishermen are reaching out to help fishermen.  A truckload of supplies donated by the North Carolina Fisheries Association and True North Seafood has reached Louisiana and being readied to help those in need.

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Gulf Fishing Family Hurting After Hurricane Laura Destroys Cameron, Wrecks Havoc on Surrounding Area

Gulf Fishing Family Hurting After Hurricane Laura Destroys Cameron, Wrecks Havoc on Surrounding Area

The Gulf fishing fleet docked at or near Cameron, LA bore the brunt of Hurricane Laura as it roared ashore in the early hours of August 27th as a category four storm. The Gulf Seafood Foundation is calling upon government officials in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi for an immediate coordinated seafood specific disaster relief effort for fishermen, seafood processors and the extended seafood family.

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“A Different Breed of Cat” Recounts Fish Fights in Coastal Alabama

“A Different Breed of Cat” Recounts Fish Fights in Coastal Alabama

Former commercial fisherman Robert Fritchey documents landmark disputes between the recreational and commercial fishing industries. His latest book, A Different Breed of Cat, chronicles the battles over the use of fishing nets during the 1990’s in Alabama, where the state’s resource-management agency brokered a compromise that was hailed as the beginning of a “new age” in managing the state’s coastal fisheries. 

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Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth Stirs Controversy Within Gulf Seafood Industry

Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth Stirs Controversy Within Gulf Seafood Industry

A recent executive order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth potentially broadens markets for the Gulf seafood industry, as well as stirred controversy within the its seafood community.

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Oystermen Are Original Environmentalists Use to Navigating Crisis After Crisis

Oystermen Are Original Environmentalists Use to Navigating Crisis After Crisis

Hurricanes, droughts, flooding and oil spills, the Louisiana Oyster Task Force had thought they had seen it all.  The norvell coronavirus that is sweeping through the state, the nation and the world is just one more obstacle to overcome and according to Task Force chairman Mitch Jurisich there is little doubt they will. Jurisich discusses the importance of Gulf oysters to the environment, culture and heritage of Louisiana.

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Timely Topics, Technology and Techniques Featured at 2020 Louisiana Fisheries Forward Summit

Timely Topics, Technology and Techniques Featured at 2020 Louisiana Fisheries Forward Summit

For Louisiana oysterman Tony Tesvich the last few years have been all about water, water, and more water.  Too much, too little, poor quality, high salinity, low salinity, nitrogen, phosphates and hypoxia; over the past two years his oysters have been flooded with a host of water issues and that is why he will be attending the 2020 Fisheries Forward Summit.

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