Category Archives: Gulf of Mexico
Gulf Coast wins against ‘far-left activists’ in NOAA decision, Alabama officials say
U.S. Sens. Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville applauded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rejecting a petition to establish a mandatory 10-knot speed limit and other vessel-related mitigation measures in the Gulf of Mexico.“I was glad to see the NOAA come to their senses and reject this part of the Biden Administration’s overreaching regulatory agenda in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Tuberville (R-Auburn), who has written two letters to administration officials on the issue. “Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go. Designating a Critical Habitat for the Rice’s whale throughout this expansive area would impose undue burdens and restrictions on all vessel traffic, especially in and out of the Port of Mobile.” >>click to read<< 10:09
County lawmakers request fishery resource disaster determination amidst nationwide shrimp disaster
On Sept. 18 the Pamlico County Commissioners adopted a resolution urging North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper to consider submitting a request for a fishery resource disaster determination to the NC Secretary of Commerce. Craven County followed suit and adopted a similar resolution on October 2. According to these resolutions, the global supply of farm-raised shrimp imports into the United States has reached record highs. This imported shrimp now dominates cold storages, distribution hubs, and the American market at a level that is devastating to US operators. This influx of imported shrimp into the American market has caused significant revenue loss, and loss of access to the shrimp fisheries themselves, for small family-owned supporting businesses, and other supporting businesses. >>click to read<< 09:47
That ‘Gulf’ shrimp you ate probably wasn’t from the Gulf of Mexico
What if every imported seafood product for sale in Louisiana had a red sticker with the word “Imported” affixed to the front of its packaging? That question is one of several the state Seafood Safety Task Force is asking in an effort to address a struggling domestic fishery and increasing health risks from imported catch. The task force met Friday for just the second time in over a decade following a long dormant period that ended last month. State Sen. Fred Mills, R-St. Martinville, chairs the task force that he said will try to develop solutions to address three areas: the health and safety of consumers, the economy of the domestic seafood sector, and consumer education. An influx of cheap foreign catch has flooded the seafood market in Louisiana, and most restaurants in the state choose to serve imported shrimp and crawfish to patrons who are either oblivious to it or mistakenly believe they’re eating local fare, according to the Louisiana Shrimp Association. The effects have decimated a local industry and unique Louisiana culture while also potentially introducing harmful contaminants into the food supply. >>click to read<< 11:52
American Shrimp Processors Association Launches Trade Petitions Addressing Unfair Dumping and Illegal Subsidies
Today, the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA) filed trade petitions seeking antidumping duties on imported frozen warmwater shrimp from Ecuador and Indonesia and countervailing duties on imported shrimp from Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The U.S. shrimp market has been overwhelmed by massive quantities of underpriced shrimp imports, resulting in unsustainably low dockside prices, falling domestic market share, significantly lower profit margins, and historically high inventory levels. >>click to read<< 07:56
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
Offshore Wind Is A Dangerous Pipe Dream Costing Taxpayers Billions
How many times have we heard that wind power, coupled with the sun’s energy, is going to save us from our fossil-fuel-burning ways? Maybe one day it will. But at no time soon will it happen. And by soon, we mean in most of our lifetimes. How can we say this? Look around at what’s happening with wind energy [emphasis, “California’s Central Coast residents work to stop — or at least slow down — offshore wind.”,,, “Orsted Threatens To Abandon U.S. Offshore Wind Projects.” Biden administration guarantees more support.,, “Electricity from wind isn’t cheap and it never will be.” The list above is no more than a start. There are many more stories we could have cited, and there are many more to come. Wind energy is unreliable, and its costs are not competitive at scale. Lots of links! >>click to read<< 18:22
McIntosh County commissioners pass resolution to support local shrimpers
The McIntosh County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution to seek protection for the shrimping industry at a special called meeting on Thursday. The resolution states that an increase of imported shrimp in the United States have “continued to decimate the local shrimping industry’s ability to market and sell wild caught domestic shrimp.” The resolution passed unanimously during Thursday’s meeting. Local leaders hope the more cities and counties that jump on board with similar resolutions, the closer they’ll get to grabbing the attention of Congress and the federal government. >>click to read<< 16:48
Lowcountry shrimpers say area restaurants buying shrimp from other countries is putting a strain on the industry
Lowcountry shrimpers are concerned that they are going to be priced out by imported shrimp. But there’s one local organization working to promote eating locally. The South Carolina Shrimper’s Association has multiple goals such as advocating for policies that support the shrimping industry, educating the public about the industry, and promoting sustainable shrimping. One of the biggest problems Lowcountry shrimpers are facing right now is local restaurants importing the shrimp. They say some restaurants import shrimp from other countries at extremely low prices that local shrimpers just can’t afford to beat – and it’s impacting their livelihood. Video, “It’s been happening for a long time now, but it’s gotten to where it’s getting out of hand,” said local shrimper Rocky Magwood. >>click to read<< 13:03
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 72′ Steel Shrimp Dragger, 500H Cummins K-19 Diesel
To review specifications, information, and 28 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 11:35
Louisiana elected officials seek to protect local fishermen from imported shrimp
Louisiana elected officials are rallying to find solutions to help protect the state’s shrimp fishermen from cheap foreign shrimp that critics say is depriving shrimpers of their livelihood and undermining public health. Last month, the state Legislature’s Seafood Safety Task Force met to consider ways to stem the influx of shrimp from China and other nations amid concerns that the imported seafood may contain impurities that pose risks to the health of Louisianans. In addition, Gov. John Bel Edwards has requested that the U.S. secretary of commerce declare an emergency disaster declaration to provide assistance to shrimp fishermen. The Florida-based Southern Shrimp Alliance is also urging governors of Gulf and southeastern states to request federal relief funds for shrimpers. >>click to read<< 07:29
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 73′ Steel Shrimper, 3406 Cat Diesel
To review specifications, information, and 9 photos’, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here< 10″31
U.S. offshore wind plans are utterly collapsing
Offshore wind developer Ørsted has delayed its New Jersey Ocean Wind 1 project to 2026. Previously, the company had announced construction of the project would begin in October 2023. The delay was attributed to supply chain issues, higher interest rates, and a failure so far to garner enough tax credits from the federal government. For now, they are not walking away from all their U.S. projects but will reconsider long-term plans by the end of this year. Ørsted’s stock price has fallen 30% in 5 days. This is just the latest bad news for offshore win. >>click to read<<10:57
One Year after Ian: Shrimping Industry
Grant Erickson’s family spent 70 years building their shrimping business on San Carlos Island. Hurricane Ian destroyed it in about 12 hours. “Devastating. We’ve never been damaged so bad,” he recalled. “You come back to that, and you’re stunned. You’re in shock. You don’t even know where to start. It’s too much all at once.” It’s just hard to put in words the last year,” Jesse Clapham, the fleet manager for Erickson and Jensen Seafood. “We had a meeting, and everybody said, ‘Do we want to give up and go home, or do we want to put it back together?’ And everybody unanimously said, ‘Put it back together,’” he recalled. But doing so would be a Herculean challenge. Photo, Video, >>click to read<< 10:57
Longtime Fort Myers Beach shrimping operation dissolving after disputes between owners
As the Fort Myers Beach shrimping industry claws its way back after Ian, one of the last remaining companies on the historic waterfront is not returning, though the end of Trico Shrimp Company is not due to the hurricane. The demise of Trico Shrimp reduces the size of the historic “pink gold” fleet as two local families with several decades of business history part ways. The partnership splintered over how the shrimping operations were run, court records show. The directors of Trico Shrimp, incorporated in 1986, have been ensnared in legal action since 2021 when Dennis Henderson and wife Ranell Henderson filed for the dissolutions of various companies, including several shrimp boats, they own with wife-and-husband Christine and George Gala Jr. Video, photos, >>click to read<< 12:57
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
Florida Gov. DeSantis Requests Aid For Fishing Industry
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday sent a formal request to the U.S. Department of Commerce seeking assistance for the fishing industry after last week’s Hurricane Idalia. Without putting a dollar figure on the potential damage, DeSantis said in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo that the commercial and residential fishing communities in North Florida’s Big Bend region were “greatly affected” by the Category 3 hurricane. Florida’s Big Bend is an important cornerstone of the state’s fishery,” DeSantis said in the letter. “This region includes over 600 fishermen, 160 fishery wholesalers and retailers, 240 aquaculture shellfish farmers, and 450 for-hire charter captains, all of which play important commercial fishery roles.” ><<>click to read<< 07:54
‘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
Cortez fishing village inundated by Hurricane Idalia
As residents and business owners cleaned up on Thursday morning following the storm surge from Hurricane Idalia that flooded local roads, the recurring consensus was: “We got lucky.” “There was no boat damage (to the fleet of fishing boats). We lost a few boards on the dock,” A.P. Bell Fish Co. owner Karen Bell said. “We were very lucky.” Cortez is one of Florida’s last commercial fishing villages. It hugs the north shore of Sarasota Bay. On Wednesday morning, its roads were underwater, but by that evening, the waters had receded and roads were passable. In advance of the storm, A.P. Bell workers had secured the fleet of fishing boats with extra dock lines. 11 photos, >>click to read<< 17:27
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
Idalia demolished some Florida fishing communities. But locals say they’ll rebuild
For five generations, Austin Ellison’s family has toiled in the shrimping and fishing business here in this picturesque shoreline community nestled in what’s known as Florida’s Nature Coast along the state’s northern Gulf Coast. But when Hurricane Idalia barreled into the coast as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday with 125 mph winds, his family business, Ed’s Bait House, was pounded to the ground. Ellison points to his shrimping boat, named Miss Laura, floating in a nearby canal. The storm smashed out its windows, but the vessel survived otherwise. To Ellison, rebuilding means not just the cost of construction, but the additional expense of meeting modern storm-proofing requirements — a daunting task for someone who makes less than $30,000 a year as a seasonal fisherman. Photos, >>click to read<< 09:37
Florida Gov. DeSantis To Seek Aid For Fishing Industry
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday said the state will seek federal help for the fishing industry in the Big Bend region, as cleanup efforts moved into a second day from the devastation caused by Hurricane Idalia. Meanwhile, the state reported its first confirmed death related to Idalia, while utility workers still had about 135,000 customer power outages to tackle from the Category 3 storm, many in sparsely populated areas of North Florida. The governor’s plan to seek help from the U.S. Department of Commerce for the fishing industry followed White House approval of a separate request for a major disaster declaration. >>click to read<< 17:22
Hurricane Idalia at Category 3 strength ahead of Florida landfall
Hurricane Idalia strengthened into a powerful Category 4 storm Wednesday morning, then weakened slightly to a Category 3, ahead of landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region. According to the 7 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Idalia has maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour, and catastrophic storm surge and destructive winds are nearing the Big Bend. WPTV First Alert Weather meteorologist Jennifer Correa said landfall is expected around 8 a.m. Wednesday, and Idalia’s center should stay east of Tallahassee. After making landfall on Wednesday, Idalia will weaken to a Category 2 hurricane over southeastern Georgia, and then a tropical storm by late Wednesday. >>click to read<< 08:04
Petition: Stop Imported Seafood, Save Our Local Fishermen and Seafood Industry!
As a concerned citizen, I am deeply troubled by the detrimental impact of imported foreign seafood on our local fishermen and seafood industry. It is disheartening to witness the decline in our local seafood prices and the subsequent struggles faced by our hardworking fishermen. This petition aims to raise awareness about this issue and urge relevant authorities to take immediate action. Growing imports of foreign seafood have flooded our markets, causing a significant drop in demand for locally caught fish. This has resulted in devastating consequences for our local fishermen who rely on their catch as their primary source of income. In the 1980s, shrimpers were receiving close to $7 per pound at the dock; however, today they are barely earning $.80 per pound. >>click to read and sign the petition<< 10:41
Federal aid for Louisiana fisheries delivered after nearly four years
After a long wait, Louisiana’s fisheries finally will receive $58 million in federal aid to offset disaster impacts, U.S. Rep. Garret Graves announced. “There is no excuse for the bureaucracy to take four years for the disaster relief we secured to actually be made available, but these funds will be invaluable,” he said in the announcement. “We have promised the seafood industry we would not stop our fight to bring them relief while working to reform the broken fisheries disaster process. We will continue to work with our fishing community to cut through the red tape and make this program functional.” He also pointed out the state’s seafood industry endured the impacts of Hurricane Ida in 2021 and other disasters, in addition to the rise in inflation, high fuel prices, and supply chain problems, among other issues. >>click to read<< 09:54
Coast Guard establishes Area Command Post ahead of Tropical Storm Idalia
The Seventh Coast Guard District has established an Area Command Post in advance of Tropical Storm Idalia, Monday, at Coast Guard Air Station Miami in Opa Locka, Florida. For information and interviews relating to the Coast Guard’s preparations and response to Tropical Storm Idalia, please contact the Joint Information Center at 954-546-4979 or by email >>here<< Updated Port Condition changes by the Captain of the Port will be available on the Homeport website and announced on official unit social media pages throughout the Seventh District. Check below for your local Coast Guard Sector page: >>click to read<< 19:00
Idalia emerges as threat to Florida with potential as category 3 hurricane
The National Weather Service warned on Monday that Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to intensify into a major category 3 hurricane by Wednesday. As of 8 a.m. E.D.T. on Monday, Idalia was about 90 miles south of the western tip of Cuba and was expected to become a hurricane as it approached the coast of Cuba. Idalia had sustained maximum winds of 65 mph and was moving north. While the track of the hurricane remained the same, the expected intensity has increased. Florida’s Division of Emergency Management on Monday morning said its state emergency operations center was activated to a “level 1″ in response to Idalia. >click to read< 09:50
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
Imported shrimp eaten in U.S. may not be safe – U.S. Rep. Castor wants to do something about it
With inventories of shrimp sitting at docks throughout the Gulf Coast due to an abundance of imported seafood, the shrimp industry and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida want to increase the purchase of domestic shrimp in the United States and provide more federal funding to regulate imported shrimp for consumers. John Williams is the executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, which represents members of the shrimp industry from Texas through North Carolina. He said a lot of his members that are suffering right now. Castor’s bill, the Laws Ensuring Safe Shrimp Act (LESS Act) would address that issue by vastly increasing funding for the FDA to do inspections of foreign produced shrimp. >click to read< 16:07