Tag Archives: Oriel Martinez Alvarado
Hurricane Ian: Shrimpers rode out the storm on boats. Now they’re left without work
The F/V Aces and Eights precariously perch on land near the Trico Shrimp Co. in Matanzas Harbor. Under the shadow cast by the shrimping boat’s black and white hull, sailors Oriel Martinez Alvarado and Javier Allan Lopez took a breather. The shrimping industry’s long history in Fort Myers Beach, the largest commercial shrimping fleet in the Gulf of Mexico, came to a crashing halt as Hurricane Ian’s storm surge tossed around massive boats like bath toys, most of them now stuck on land. During the storm, Martinez and Lopez worried that the boat they were on, the F/V Miz Shirley, might sink. So they crossed onto the F/V Big Daddy with two other sailors. But now, Martinez, Lopez and other shrimpers are out of a job indefinitely. Photos, >click to read< 17:31
