Tag Archives: Texas
Coastal Georgia Shrimping: A new season of uncertainty, possibilities and hope
In a word, “difficult,” said Dee Kicklighter of their most recent shrimping season. Kicklighter, who has worked with Mathews for about eight years, has seen first-hand how the unpredictability of the business can be costly. “You plan for something to be one price, and then the next week you come back, and it could be potentially thousands of dollars more, depending on what you’re dealing with,” he said of fluctuating prices, including fuel. Over the years, Mathews said the ever-changing cost of fuel has taken a toll on the number of shrimpers in the industry. It’s not just Georgia shrimpers contending with the negative effects from imports. North Carolina, Texas, Louisiana, Florida and other coastal states are also feeling the friction of narrowing profit margins that threaten their way of life. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 09:15
Gulf’s next wind auction puts focus on Louisiana after Texas shuns renewables
After the Gulf of Mexico’s first-ever offshore wind lease auction drew zero bids for sites in the waters off Texas last year, federal regulators plan to tilt the second auction toward Louisiana. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management proposed two new lease areas, totaling about 200,000 acres, in federal waters south of the Texas-Louisiana line, an area that may strike a balance between the stronger winds near Texas and the more welcoming politics of Louisiana. “Texas leaders said some inflammatory things about offshore wind right before the last lease sale,” said Jenny Netherton, a program manager for the Southeastern Wind Coalition. “That strongly suggested to some investors that Texas wasn’t the best bet.” more, >>click to read<< 08:18
Southeast Texas shrimpers concerned for collapse of shrimping industry
An association that represents Port Arthur’s shrimpers is concerned that imports of farm grown shrimp could collapse the local shrimping industry. In the last 18 months, southeast Texas shrimpers have docked their boats due to the now unaffordable costs of fishing. “The prices that they’re getting at the dock are more like $0.75 as opposed to $2.50 or $3 a pound which they were getting only 18 months ago,” says Father Sinclair Oubre, the treasurer for the Port Arthur Area Shrimpers Association. Video, more, >>click to read<< 08:29
Shrimpers face pricing issues
“I’ve been in the business with my parents when they were alive, straight out of high school, which is about thirty something years ago. I have never seen the price of shrimp this low,” said Jose Cuevas Jr., owner of Los Tortugos Seafood Market. Cuevas has a fleet consisting of eleven shrimp boat. He says all of his boats are now sitting idle because it’s not cost effective to go fish. He said it costs 30 to 40 thousand dollars just to fuel up one boat to go out. Other shrimpers are having the same issues with fuel costs keeping them docked. “Usually for us, around this time of year, fuel prices are a dollar fifty. Right now, they’re at close to three dollars, so double,” said Alberto Ochoa, owner of Ochoa Trawlers. Video, more, >>click to read<< 15:02
Southeast Texas shrimpers hope two new bills will help keep imported shrimp from taking away their jobs
The Port Arthur Shrimper’s Association held an informational meeting Wednesday to help stop shrimp dumping. Shrimp dumping is the heavy importing of shrimp from other countries. Shrimpers in Southeast Texas are also pushing to impose stricter tariffs on imported shrimp. They say regulating the amount and quality of shrimp coming in could save their livelihoods. Two new federal bills could potentially benefit shrimpers and Southeast Texans. Local shrimpers say they aren’t making any money because U.S. businesses are buying imported shrimp at low prices. Video, more, >>click to read<< 09:47
Michael Burden Clarkin “Captain Mike”, of North Carolina, has passed away
Michael Burden Clarkin, born in Corpus Christi, Texas on October 21, 1950, died on the Outer Banks of North Carolina on January 5, 2024, after a long illness. On the Outer Banks, Mike found his happy place and spent the rest of his life there. This is where “Captain Mike” was born. He spent years at the helm of multiple charter and commercial fishing boats, even gaining the honor of Captain of the Year in 1994. If you were to look through the annals of captains on the Outer Banks, you would find many who started under the guidance of Captain Mike. more, >>click to read<< 11:30
A New Rod For Gramps
Young Cris had been going fishing since he was old enough to walk. Gramps, as he had called him, was raising Chris as best he could, living on a fixed income. Cris’ parents were taken from him in a car crash wen he was only six months old, and his Gramps was just like a dad to him. Gramps had lost his wife to cancer a year before Cris was born, so the two of them needed each other very much. Living within a mile of one of Texas’ largest bays, Cris enjoyed the time he and his grandfather spent on its shores. Gramps had spent many hours schooling him in the finer art of angling for redfish and he always admired the pretty copper-colored battlers that his gramps caught and later cooked for dinner. more, >>click to read<< 08:39
Galveston shrimpers being run out of business due to low prices, overseas imports
Captain Jerome Kunz
Texas Gulf shrimpers are going out of business during what many are calling the worst period in the history of the industry. “You’ll see numerous boats up and down this dock and most of them are just set here,” Nikki Johnson-Kunz said as she stood along Pier 19 in Galveston. Pier 19 was once a bustling hub for Galveston’s shrimping fleet — from the same spot a few years ago, one could watch dozens of shrimp boats running back and forth to the Gulf and then to the seafood markets along the docks to sell their catch. Johnson-Kunz married into a Galveston family that’s been fishing the waters for shrimp for more than a century. They said business has never been as bad as it is now. “Our prices that we get paid per pound are under a dollar,” she said. “It’s sickening.” Video, >>click to read<< 10:52
In Texas, Vietnamese American Shrimpers Must Forge a New Path Again
The sun was still rising when Vinh Nguyen hauled in his first catch of the day. For the next half-hour, he worked methodically, using his bare fingers to sort the slippery crustaceans from Matagorda Bay. The famed Texas brown shrimp went in one bucket. The Texas white shrimp in another. Seagulls and pelicans hovered around him in the cool, sticky air, while dolphins swam alongside the boat. All were eager for the discarded fish — free breakfast. By noon, Mr. Nguyen caught enough shrimp to take home about $600, a decent profit these days, but still less than in years past when $1,000 marked a good day. “Not much,” he frowned, as he stood on the slick deck assessing the ice chests that were now filled with shrimp. Photos, >>click to read<<07:35
‘Catastrophic crisis’: Imported shrimp flood US market
Foreign shrimp imports are overwhelming the country’s inventories of shrimp and driving market prices for locally sourced shrimp to record lows, prompting widespread calls from elected officials and organizations throughout southern Atlantic and Gulf Coast states for the federal government to declare a fishery resource disaster. Governors of coastal states from North Carolina to Florida to Texas are being pressed to ask U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to determine a fishery resource disaster for the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery. In what one North Carolina coastal county’s board of commissioners refer to as an “unprecedented catastrophic crisis,” shrimpers are struggling to maintain operations because they’re making substantially less for their catch while paying historically high fuel prices and other inflation-driven costs. Shrimpers are also being forced to dock their freezer boats, or vessels with onboard freezers, because they can’t move their product in a market flooded with frozen shrimp from overseas. >>click to read<< 09:40
Texas: Bay Shrimpers
Just about every day of the week you can find Vito Sandoval and Ricardo Rodriguez plying the waters of the Brownsville ship channel dragging their net to provide local bait stands with live shrimp. With the sun just clearing the horizon, they are on the water and getting ready to haul in their first drag of the day. They are an efficient team and while Rodriguez expertly separates the shrimp from “bycatch,” Sandoval returns to the Captain’s chair, where he is right at home as bay shrimping is a family tradition. “My dad did it for many, many years. He is the one that got me going around 12 years old that’s when I started coming with him on the weekends and the summertime, and I loved it,” said Vito Sandoval. Video, photos, >>click to read<< 09:06
Beaufort’s shrimping industry on the brink. Local boats sit while imported catch floods market
Thursday at Village Creek on St. Helena Island was another picture postcard-worthy morning with an American flag lilting in a slight southeast breeze near the shrimper Gracie Bell — idly tied to the dock. At Sea Eagle Market, a catch of shrimp swept up in the nets of trawlers in recent days are being processed by small group of dockside workers. They clean the valuable seafood crop harvested from waters as far away as North Carolina to the northeast coast of Florida before being sold locally and up and down the Palmetto State’s coast. After this recent harvest was completed, the boats returned, as they always do — to Village Creek, home base for shrimping on Fripp and Hunting Islands in Beaufort County and beyond. Against this serene backdrop, a storm is brewing that threatens destruction. It is not the threat of foul weather, these shrimpers have seen generations of bad weather days. The storm brewing is economic for the community of shrimpers and related businesses. >click to read< 10:10
Donna resident aims to raise awareness of shrimping industry challenges
After hearing of the problems affecting the Valley shrimping industry, John Crose says he wants to do something about it. “We call it shrimp aid,” Crose said. “Like farm aid, but we call it a shrimp aid SOS, support our shrimpers.” Crose is a full-time Winter Texan living in Donna. Thousands more Winter Texans are expected to arrive to the Rio Grande Valley for the season. During the season, Crose said he’ll do his part to inform people that living in Donna, gulf shrimpers are facing high costs, issues getting workers, and stiff competition from imports. Video, >>click to read<< 10:31
‘A Gulf and National Issue’: Southeast Texas shrimpers struggling to survive due to influx of imported shrimp
With an an influx of imported shrimp taking over the market, it’s becoming tougher for Southeast Texas shrimpers to survive. Since July 16, the Texas waters opened back up for fishing, but Eric Kyle Kimball’s boat “The Seahorse” has yet to leave the dock at the Sabine Pass Port Authority. Kimball is a third generation fisherman who’s been around the industry for 55 years. This career help provides for him and his family, with brown shrimp being the main source of income. Shrimp imported from across the globe are driving prices down from $3.75 per pound in the 80’s to 95 cents per pound, currently. After paying for fuel and deck hands, area fisherman can’t break even. Video, >>click to read<< 09:49
Shrimp Alliance request fisheries disaster declaration
There’s no other way to put it if you ask Aaron Wallace. Despite a decent catch by the eight shrimp boats that supply Anchored Shrimp Co. in Brunswick, the prices fishermen are getting for their hauls aren’t what they should be. “It’s been one of our toughest years,” Wallace said. He and his father, John Wallace, own Anchored Shrimp and operate the Gale Force, one of the boats that serve the company’s retail and wholesale business. The Southern Shrimp Alliance, for which John Wallace serves as a member of the board of directors, is calling the flood of imported shrimp a crisis. The alliance asked the governors of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas in a letter on Aug. 25 to collectively request a fisheries disaster determination by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce for the U.S. shrimp fishery. >>click to read<< 11:06
Family throws surprise 90th birthday party for island shrimper
The family of island shrimper Jerome “Pops” Kunz surprised him on Aug. 12 with a belated 90th birthday celebration. He was greeted off the elevator by his baby sister and only surviving sibling, Shirley Kunz-Rooks, who traveled from San Antonio. More than 100 guests filled the party room to wine, dine and dance the night away. Music was provided by his dearest friend, musician Skip Swackhamer. Pops has been shrimping in Galveston Bay for more than 80 years. At the age of 10, he began working with his father, eventually buying his own series of boats. Today he still shrimps on his latest vessel, the St. Vincent, along with his deckhand daughter-in-law Nikki Johnson-Kunz, known as “Texas Shrimp Diva.” Photos, >click to read< 13:26
Dawn Buckingham: Can Texas Stop Biden from Building a Massive Wind Farm Off Its Coast?
As a ninth-generation Texan, I have always loved and respected our beautiful coast, its vibrant economy, and the hard-working men and women whose livelihoods depend on the preservation of these waters. Since taking the helm of the General Land Office as the first female Land Commissioner in state history, I have also had the immense responsibility of stewarding over 13 million acres of state lands, protecting our state’s open beaches, and providing critical relief to Texans in the aftermath of hurricanes and other major storms. Texas commercial fishermen stand to lose a huge swath of navigable waters containing rich fisheries. This project could absolutely devastate this vital industry, robbing families of high-paying jobs, ending family businesses that span generations, and ultimately making the entire United States more dependent on seafood imports from places like China. >click to read< 11:57
Lawmakers push for tighter rules on imported shrimp
A federal lawmaker representing Galveston County has co-sponsored a bill that would increase U.S. Food and Drug Administration testing to ensure imported shrimp meet domestic health and safety standards and fund a federal agency to buy some of the U.S. catch under some circumstances. The bill is meant to weed out tainted shrimp and level the field for U.S. shrimpers and seafood markets that must meet higher quality standards and have been battered by large foreign companies, including shrimp farming operations, able to sell their products in the United States for about half the domestic price. Customers leaving the seafood market agreed. Customer Fredell Rosen said domestic shrimp is the only way to go. “I want my shrimp from here,” Rosen said. “I want my shrimp local. I’m willing to pay more because I know it’s regulated and safe.” >click to read< 16:01
First offshore wind leases off the Texas coast offered for bidding
The federal government on Thursday announced the first-ever chance for companies to lease areas in the Gulf of Mexico to build wind farms, including two parcels roughly 30 miles off the Texas coast near Galveston. Renewable energy developers will likely compete for the leases with firms that are better known for another kind of offshore construction: Oil and gas giants such as Shell and TotalEnergies qualified to join the bidding. Leaders of the traditionally fossil fuel-focused companies say their climate goals make investing in offshore wind critical. Both businesses are already involved in developing wind power in the Atlantic, including near New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. >click to read< 10:02
Leonard Woolsey – Decline of shrimping industry a jumbo problem
The threat to the local shrimping industry is jumbo-sized. In recent weeks, members of the local shrimping industry have taken action to raise awareness of the critical challenges they face in keeping their business afloat. And the economic impact on the Galveston County is significant. “The price of diesel and the falling price of shrimp has made it hard to break even,” said deckhand Cliff Dunn, who last week was at work with Capt. Trey Branch getting a boat ready for the Gulf season’s start. “The price of diesel and the falling price of shrimp has made it hard to break even,” said deckhand Cliff Dunn, who last week was at work with Capt. Trey Branch getting a boat ready for the Gulf season’s start. >click to read< 12:00
Coast Guard, F/V Ocean One rescue 3 after boat capsizes off Freeport, Texas
The Coast Guard and good Samaritans rescued three adults after their vessel capsized off the coast of Freeport, Texas, Sunday. Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston command center watchstanders received a call at 5:05 p.m. on VHF-FM channel 16 from the captain of the fishing vessel Ocean One that a pleasure craft had capsized 10 miles off the coast of Freeport. All three boaters were in the water and wearing life jackets. The crew of the F/V Ocean One pulled all three boaters from the water. >click to read< 08:55
Mary Meaux – Our shrimping industry keeps taking hits with foreign imports
Days before the opening of the Gulf of Mexico commercial shrimp season, a group of shrimpers held a rally in Texas City to bring awareness to the plight of Texas shrimpers and the shrimping industry in general. Tricia Kimball, whose husband Kyle is president of the Port Arthur Area Shrimpers Association, explained the effort. The season for the Gulf of Mexico state and federal waters reopens 30 minutes after sunset Saturday, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Kyle Kimball is a third-generation commercial shrimper. He remembers standing on a 5-gallon bucket as a child helping his father pick through shrimp. It’s been his lifelong career but last year when diesel prices hit $5 per gallon, he only went out once because it was too expensive. >click to read< 20:06
Harried shrimpers pessimistic as Gulf season opens
Capt. Trey Branch and deckhand Cliff Dunn were at work Tuesday morning at a Hillman’s Seafood & Fish House dock preparing the shrimp boat Capt. Hunter for the opening Saturday of Gulf shrimp season. Dunn and Branch are lifelong shrimpers, from generations of shrimpers. Once, the days just before the boats took to Gulf waters after shrimp were a time of hard work and keen anticipation of profits to make it all worthwhile. Not so much any more, the shrimpers said. The hard work is still there, but profits have plummeted in part because of cheaper, farm-raised foreign shrimp flooding the market and higher operating costs driven by inflation, especially in fuel prices. 5 photos, >click to read< 20;47
Texas shrimpers call for tariffs on cheaper Asian imports
Just days before the start of Gulf shrimp season, harvesters from all along the Texas coast are calling for government action to help them weather a storm of high fuel prices and cheaper foreign imports. More than 100 people who make a living on Gulf shrimp gathered Monday afternoon at the Doyle Convention Center to draw attention to forces they say threaten to sink their industry. Boat owners, dock owners, boat captains and deckhands huddled under a banner with six small U.S. flags to sign in and record their fears in hopes the notes would eventually reach the eyes of the U.S. Congress. Photos. >click to read< 11:41
Commercial Gulf Shrimp season reopens Saturday
The Gulf of Mexico commercial shrimp season for state and federal waters will reopen 30 minutes after sunset on Saturday, July 15, 2023. “The annual mid-May closure protects brown shrimp until they can reach larger, more valuable sizes during their major period of emigration from the bays to the Gulf of Mexico,” said Robin Riechers, TPWD Coastal Fisheries Division director. Federal waters (from nine to 200 nautical miles offshore) will open at the same time as state waters. The National Marine Fisheries Service chose to adopt rules compatible with those adopted by Texas. >click to read< 16:41
Texas Congressmen Call on Biden Administration to Protect American Shrimp Industry
With Texas shrimpers struggling to hold on to market share, a bipartisan group of the state’s congressional delegation is asking the Biden administration to do more to protect the industry from foreign providers accused of dumping cheap and less regulated shrimp into U.S. markets. On Tuesday, Reps. Troy Nehls (R-TX-22) and Randy Weber (R-TX-14) sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai requesting more information on the administration’s plans to protect shrimping. “Our nation’s shrimpers are being put out of business because of foreign shrimp being dumped into domestic markets,” said Nehls in a statement. >click to read< 13:20
Commercial Fisherman Captain Ronald Lynn Galloway, Sr. of Baytown, Texas, has passed away
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Captain Ronald Lynn Galloway Sr. of Baytown, Texas, born October 12, 1950, who passed away on June 4, 2023, at the age of 72, leaving to mourn family and friends. Captain Ron was a beloved member of the commercial shrimping industry. He enjoyed sharing his love for the water, and was proud that his son Ronnie, Jr. followed in his footsteps and worked alongside him for many years. In the spring, you could find Capt. Ron out on the bay catching big shrimp and crabs, and in the winter, you would find him sitting in a deer blind waiting for the monster buck. >click to read< 09:54
Alleged shrimp boat bandit arrested in Houston, ran boat aground, damaged 2 others
After weeks, an arrest was finally made in the case of the Shrimp Boat Bandit. Able Antonio Martinez, 22, was arrested and charged with two felony warrants for Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle and Criminal Mischief. On April 16, Port of Galveston Police officers responded to reports of a shrimp boat, which belonged to Alex Gutierrez, that was stolen while it was moored at Pier 19. Investigators discovered a man, now alleged to be Martinez, boarded the F/V Santana in slip 24W, backed out of the slip, and damaged two other vessels that were moored in the area. Video, >click to read< 12:02
Commercial fishing business/vessel owner Jewell Thomas “Tom” English III of Oak Island, Texas, has passed away
Jewell Thomas “Tom” English III, 75, of Oak Island, Texas, passed away peacefully, on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at his home, with his loving family by his side. He was born on May 12, 1947, in Oceanside, California, to the late Margaret Emily Powers and Jewell Thomas English, Jr. He enlisted in the United States Navy and proudly served his country during the Vietnam Era. Tom was the owner and operator of a commercial fishing business and the fishing vessel F/V M&M (“you know where it melts”) for many years. He also received his captain’s license as a tugboat driver and for pushing barges. >click to read< 09:47
Texas: Shrimping grinds to a halt as import oversupplies add to ongoing woes
The Gulf shrimping industry, including the Brownsville-Port Isabel fleet, shrinking steadily over the last couple of decades, is now in a state of near total collapse thanks to new, unprecedented challenges in addition to the usual. So says Andrea Hance, executive director of the Texas Shrimp Association, who said she and her husband have put their two shrimp boats up for sale because it’s become impossible to make money fishing for domestic shrimp anymore. About 95% of the local fleet is tied up, most fleet owners are cutting their crews loose, and just about everybody Hance knows is trying to sell their boats and shrimping licenses, she said. >click to read< 19:09
