Tag: Louisiana Shrimp Association
U.S. Congressmen Garret Graves of Louisiana and Jerry Carl of Alabama recently sent a letter to Thomas Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, requesting the department once again purchase Gulf shrimp under Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act to be donated to schools, the underprivileged and disaster relief groups.
The first win by the Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition to secure funding for a seafood industry destroyed by four hurricanes over two years is happening in the Louisiana State Legislature. House Bill 1 (HB1), which provides for the ordinary operating expenses of state government for the upcoming fiscal year, currently includes $5 million designate for debris cleanup and vessel removal clogging bayous and waterways.
For almost two hours Louisiana’s seafood leaders from all sectors of the industry gathered via zoom, mobile phones at restaurants or in cars, and in a conference room in Baton Rouge to discuss the damage of Hurricane Ida’s wrath on the State’s seafood industry. The consensus; the hurricane laid a path of destruction that has crippled almost every sector.
For more than two weeks talks of a strike by Louisiana shrimpers have filled VHF radios and social media. Talk has turned into action according to Louisiana Shrimp Association’s president Clint Guidry, as state shrimpers have put a moratorium on harvesting to protest falling shrimp prices at the dock.
A recently released report concludes most wild-caught U.S. shrimp, including a majority harvested from the Gulf of Mexico, remains a good alternative for consumers, except for shrimp landed in Louisiana or harvested in nets unmodified to protect sea turtles and other species caught accidentally.
It was a decade ago, when Julie and Dean Falgout were looking to sell their big shrimp boat, the Harvester, and things were looking so bad for shrimpers here and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast.
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