The Sea Lords – Kingpins of the Gulf make millions off red snapper harvest without ever going fishing
A little-known federal program has turned dozens of Gulf of Mexico fishermen into the lords of the sea — able to earn millions annually without even going fishing — and transformed dozens more into modern-day serfs who must pay the lords for the right to harvest red snapper. A four-month probe by AL.com has found that roughly $60 million has been earned since 2007 by this small number of fishermen whose boats never left port. That money was collected from the labor of fishermen who have no choice but to hand over more than half of the price that their catch brings at the dock. As it stands today, the right to catch 77 percent of the annual red snapper harvest is controlled by just 55 people, according to an AL.com analysis of hundreds of pages of federal documents, reports and websites. Read the article here 09:39
Ah!, “Catch Shares”, it’s working perfectly. Just as planned.
Sad…….like in hawaii over 90% of the longline fishingfleet can’t even get off there boat can’t step on us soil…….Bringing in hundreds of tons of tuna droping the price to cents a pound….while us local fishermen from hawaii who bring in a couple of fish at a time can’t pay or bills feed our kids……..sad sad sad……this is not even a real state……stolen by gun point by the usa……..HAWAII THE FAKE STATE….LOOK IT UP….
The”sea lords ” are the same guys who sold their fellow fishermen up the river to line their own pockets. It’s greed pure and simple . The same thing happened in New England perpetrated by John Pappalardo and the cape hook fisherman’s Assoc. Heads up to any other fishery that they are trying to force this B.S. On you -fight it with all you have – it will destroy you and your community . In my fishing community the whole concept of “haves ” and “have nots” has lead to fishermen who have fished next to each other for 40 years, now don’t speak to each other! This is unacceptable! The organization known as -Seafood Harvesters of America – is the people who were gifted the resource under “catch shares” and they are lobbying hard to make sure that things don’t change -F-them! I’m sure they would be singing a different tune if they were on the “have not” end of things – keep fighting to shine the light on the scumbags