A Gulf Fisherman’s Looks Don’t Always Tell the Whole Story

Buddy Guindon looks like a typical Gulf fisherman. His long white straggly beard, shorts and worn t-shirt looks like they were scripted for a TV reality series – and actually they were. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink

by Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink

Buddy Guindon looks like a typical Gulf fisherman. His long white straggly beard, shorts and worn t-shirt looks like they were scripted for a TV reality series – and actually they were.

Don’t let his looks fool you; he is anything but a typical fisherman.  Guindon, star of National Geographic Channel’s “Big Fish Texas”, will proudly tell you, he has the rights to harvest five percent of American red snapper from the Gulf of Mexico, not to mention harvesting an additional 20% of the deep-water grouper and 25% of the golden tilefish.

Solome prepares for a day of work at Katie’s Seafood on Galveston Island. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink

Guindon settled on Galveston Island in 1978 after leaving the Marines at the age of 22. When he was 15 his parents brought him to the island from South St. Paul, MN for vacation.

“I went out fishing in the Gulf for the first time with my dad,” said the mild mannered fishermen and entrepreneur, whose rugged look was tailored for a television pilot he recently finished filming. “That’s when I got hooked.”

“When my dad and I came in from a day on the water we sold the fish to Hill’s Restaurant right there on the wharf. I thought to myself, this is my kind of gig. Go out fishing all day, come in and sell your fish,” he explained.

Working as a jack-of-all-trades, he finally got his first boat after being in Galveston for a year.

“I did anything to earn money back in those days,” he explained. “As a beginner fisherman I wasn’t really breaking the bank.”

A New Breed of Fisherman

Twenty-five years later, as owner of Katie’s Seafood  he is not only “breaking the bank”, but responsible for leading the charge for responsible and sustainable fishing practices for red snapper and other species.

Fresh shrimp is always available for  Guindon’s Galveston customers. Zach prepares a display before customers arrive. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink

When the Minnesota native first started fishing the waters of the Gulf, commercial fisherman could harvest red snapper 10-days each month. During that time period there was no restriction on the amount of fish harvested. A resulting overabundance during those days would cause dock prices to fall.

“The fishermen didn’t make money, and the buyers didn’t make money under that system. The only ones making money were the restaurants where the prices never fluctuated” he explained.

The harvesting system was having adverse affects on the amount of fish in the Gulf.

Wanting to do more than required by federal fishing authorities, he joined a group of fishermen in forming The Gulf of Mexico Reef Shareholders Alliance.

“A number of fishermen from around the Gulf decided to take matters into their own hand and form the Gulf Wild program through the Gulf of Mexico Reef Shareholders Alliance. Realizing the red snapper stock was in trouble,” explained Guindon, whose boats harvest mostly in Texas waters. “we devised a plan where we recommended commercial fishermen take a 50% reduction in current quota, but allowed to harvest continually throughout the year. The first year under the new system, with the half the fish caught from the previous year, I made more money.”

Overcoming A Perception Problem

Guindon has the rights to harvest five percent of American red snapper from the Gulf of Mexico. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink

According to the Texas fisherman, what really set the program in motion was the Deepwater Horizon incident. Once the spill happened, years and years of building a great name and steady supply for the product came down to one question from buyers – “Do you have oil on the fish?”

Seafood buyers and consumers from around the world assumed the whole Gulf was closed to fishing. “I had people from all over calling asking if there’s ‘oil on the shrimp’, or ‘oil on the fish’. My answer was always, ‘I am in Texas, there’s no oil in Texas’,” he explained.

The alliance decided that it was important to identify exactly where fish were harvested. Participating fishermen started tagging fish to show within a 10-mile block where the fish was harvested.

“At the time we tagged the fish right on the boat, we have refined the process so now it is done at the dock, ” he said. “We are going through tags like they are water.”

Having tagged more than a half million fish, the new self-regulating system has been responsible for the sustainability of Gulf Red Snapper and other species. It has provided seafood buyers a steady steam of product, as well as allowing the fisherman the ability to cost-effectively schedule their fishing fleet.

When the program started a lot of fishermen were keeping only the 2 to 4 pound red snapper because they were worth more. Boats were going out with actual orders in hand and harvesting to the order. Anything not fitting the order was tossed overboard, wasting more than 50% of the catch.

“When we first started tagging fish I told my son somebody is going to see this and think it is kind of cool and wonder what it is,” said the island fisherman. “Louisiana Foods called and asked ‘what these tags on the fish were?. After I explained they sent their sustainability person down to check out the program.”

Louisiana Foods

That phone call led to Louisiana Foods, now Sysco Louisiana Seafood, becoming Guindon’s largest commercial customer, not to mention his only commercial customer.

“When they found out about my commitment to sustainability, they said ‘We want to buy all your fish’. When I told him how much that was, they said ‘give some time to work on it’,” he explained.

Buddy (l-r) and his brother Kenny listen closely to the needs of their only commercial customer, Jim Goosen, chairman of Sysco Louisiana Seafoods, at their Galveston Harbor plant.  Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink

The Gulf Wild program initially started as a seafood safety program. In its current state as a seafood traceability program, it assures buyers Gulf seafood is safe, and not from a closed areas.

A number of buyers across the country didn’t want to have anything to do with the program initially, but the hard work of Guindon and other Gulf fishermen has paid off big time.

Three years past the spill, buyers and consumers no longer worry that seafood harvested from the Gulf is safe. Gulf Wild, and similar programs, are the future of the Gulf fishing industry. Ensuring customers their fish is handled properly, safe, sustainability and comes from the best waters in the world.

“As much as you might like to criticize BP, they were committed to ensuring seafood from the Gulf was safe,” Guindon said. “They did an outstanding job at getting the word out. The advertising and financial support of various seafood marketing organizations and state agencies was instrumental in turning Gulf seafood perception from negative to positive. The only thing they forgot, Texas is still part of the Gulf.”

Tags: Big Fish Texas, Buddy Guindon, Featured, fishermen, Galveston, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Mexico Reef Shareholders Alliance, gulf wild, Katie's Seafood Market, red snapper, Seafood safety