Tag Archives: Maryland Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.

Maryland Crab Industry Says Labor Shortage Looms Again – Call for change to H2B Visa Program

Ask Jack Brooks, president of the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association, how the Maryland crab-picking season ahead looks right now, and he simply said, “Ugly.” The problem has nothing to do with the supply of crabs expected to be caught and processed in the crab houses of the Chesapeake Bay. The problem is labor. Every year, a total of 66,000 H-2B temporary work visas are up for grabs in a nationwide lottery. >click to read<

Hooper’s Island crab houses call for change to H2B Visa Program after 1 house out of 10 recieves workers – Phillips believes it’s not just the crab houses that will close if this continues, the entire seafood infrastructure including watermen and wholesalers on Hooper’s island could be wiped out. “They could survive if there were one or two houses that miss out on visas but with nine out of ten [businesses] they are going to go out of business too,” he said. Video, >click to read< 12:37