Fishermen
Sitting on the frozen plains of North Dakota 50-miles from the Canadian boarder, Kerian Machines has been enlisted by Gulf fishermen to develop a new method to grade by size head-on shrimp while still on the boat. The new shrimp grader will allow fishermen to better compete with imports, putting the quality consumers demand ahead of price.
Striving to survive years of low prices and a safety scare following the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Louisiana fishing industry suffered an estimated $258 million loss this past year due to the historic flooding according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Commercial fishermen, dock owners and processors and others will have the opportunity to learn about important issues facing this industry at the upcoming Louisiana Fisheries Forward Summit.
Prestige Oysters, one of the largest producers of Gulf oysters, has achieved the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for its private oyster fisheries in Texas and Louisiana, making it the first wild oyster fishery in the Americas to be recognized for sustainable fishing practices. Sustainable fishing practices are vital to the protection of both the environment and consumers of Gulf of Mexico seafood.
A comprehensive seafood supply chain study of Louisiana’s St. Mary, Iberia, and Vermilion Parishes highlights obstacles and opportunities for an area battered by an array of environmental disasters, economic losses and competition from imports. The study confirmed what the seafood industry in those parishes, as well as all along the entire Gulf coast, have speculated for years; without a unified voice and aligned economic development at all government levels, Gulf seafood is in trouble, big trouble.
A young clam farmer who “dabbles in oysters” is finding Florida aquaculture a challenging field with a host of potential minefields, especially Red Tide. For the past six years Carter Davis has farmed 16-acres in the waters off of Pine Island in Tampa Bay. Just when he thought he was getting the hang of it, Red Tide almost put his operation out of business.
Fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico, be they commercial, charter-for-hire or recreational, all agree on one fact: the growing need for more timely and accurate data for fishery management and science. Recognizing the need for more timely data collection, the NOAA has developed an implementation plan to expand the use of both electronic monitoring and electronic reporting.
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