Tag Archives: Louisiana’s seafood industry

Imported shrimp threatening Louisiana’s seafood industry

In June, a fleet of fishermen stood at the capitol to plead lawmakers to save their industry from imports. “What we’re seeing is a flood of shrimp coming into the country in droves far beyond what we can consume as a country each year,” Chalin Delaune, the Vice President of Tommy’s Seafood, a processor of gulf caught seafood in Louisiana, said. It worked, and the state legislature approved a bill that would give tax breaks to commercial fisherman to help them compete with foreign prices. “The legislation is a start in the right direction,” Delaune said.” “It should’ve happened a long time ago and we believe there’s a lot of work to still be done.” Video, >click to read< 10:23

Hurricane Ida: A Bad Time on the Bayou

Hurricane Ida struck the heart of Louisiana’s seafood industry as a Category 4 hurricane, wiping out homes, boats, trucks, plants and icehouses…. ‘This is just a bad time to be on the bayou it seems,’ said Venice shrimper Acy Cooper, a member of the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force. ‘Before the storm we were being hit hard by Covid. Covid is still here, but now we have to face the difficulties brought on by Ida,’ he said, adding that he has been fortunate compared to those to the east of him. ‘Here in Venice, we lost three or four shrimp boats, but over in Chauvin and Dulac, it’s more like half that fleet. People have lost their homes, their boats. They don’t have power, gas or food. These are people that aren’t going to ask for anything, but let me tell you they need it, and they need it now.’ Click to read >Pt.1< and >Pt.2< 18:55

Louisiana lawmakers request disaster aid for seafood industry

U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. and John Kennedy and U.S. Representatives Steve Scalise , Garret Graves, Cedric Richmond, Clay Higgins, Ralph Abraham and Mike Johnson today urged Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to begin the process of implementing a federal fisheries disaster declaration due to the opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway. Opening of the spillway is causing hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of fresh water to pour into Lake Pontchartrain each second, impacting various forms of aquatic life that are crucial to Louisiana’s seafood industry. >click to read< 07:42 >Click to read< the full text of the Louisiana delegation’s

Four issues facing Louisiana shrimpers this season

After perhaps the most turbulent decade in recent memory for Louisiana’s seafood industry, Lance Nacio has not lost the eternal optimism that pervades shrimpers row each spring.  Read more here houmatoday  20:57