Daily Archives: April 24, 2025
Shrimpers hope tariffs bring rescue
While American consumers and businesses fret over President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, one struggling group is cheering him on: Gulf coast shrimpers. These shrimpers have been hit hard in recent years by a wave of cheap imported shrimp flooding the US market and dominating restaurant menus. Prices have plummeted, profits have thinned to a razor’s edge, and many local operators are fighting to stay afloat. Tariffs, they hope, might level the playing field. “It’s been tough the last several years that we’ve tried to fight through this,” said Reed Bowers, owner of Bowers Shrimp Farm in Palacios, Texas. Tough times have forced difficult decisions – “cutting people off, laying people off, or reducing hours or wages … whatever we can do to survive,” Bowers said. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:37
New Bedford Fishing Industry Could Benefit From Trump Order
Before the environmentalists and fearmongers in the press get their oil skins, jumpers and mesh undies in a bind over President Donald Trump’s executive order concerning the fishing industry, they need to catch their collective breath and slowly exhale. First of all, read the damn thing! The Associated Press says, “The order represents a dramatic shift in federal policy on fishing in U.S. waters by prioritizing commercial fishing interests over efforts to allow the fish supply to increase.” That is fake news. The executive order calls for the Secretary of Commerce to immediately consider suspending, revising, or rescinding regulations that overburden America’s commercial fishing, aquaculture, and fish processing industries. Links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:34
Something fishy? Harvesters’ union raises concern over discrepancy between prices for NL and Gulf snow crab
The union representing fish harvesters and plant workers in Newfoundland and Labrador is raising an alarm bell over early reports of the price of snow crab in the marketplace. In a Wednesday, April 23, press release, FFAW-Unifor drew attention to the first Urner Barry quote for the 2025 production of Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab. It has recorded five- to eight-ounce sections at $11.05 per pound — $2.07 below the quote of $13.12 for Gulf crab landed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence fishery. That, according to the union, is a far cry from the usual price spread seen in previous years. Larger-sized crab from Newfoundland and Labrador had yet to be quoted as of Wednesday. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:41
Trump Fisheries Order May Be A First Step Toward Global Reforms
The American fisheries sector is the beneficiary of an April 17 Trump executive order. The order’s implementation could result in reduced regulatory burdens and a procompetitive, economically efficient expansions of U.S. fisheries output. It might also inspire U.S. consideration of additional efforts to improve global fisheries management. Overregulation is a serious problem afflicting U.S. fisheries. While federal regulations are designed to promote sustainable fishing and protect marine ecosystems, some badly designed rules impose economic harm on fishermen and communities that rely on fishing. These regulatory design flaws can generate excessive costs and job losses in the American fishing industry. In sum, the Fisheries Order may prove to be a catalyst not just for strengthening the U.S. fisheries sector, but also for market-oriented changes that improve global fisheries. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:30
‘Let Me Fish Off Cape St. Mary’s’ to be honoured at ECMA gala
Newfoundland and Labrador beloved and tear-inducing folk song, “Let Me Fish Off Cape St. Mary’s” will be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame at the 37th East Coast Music Awards (ECMA) Gala taking place in St. John’s on Thursday, May 8, 2025. An ECMA news release notes the deeply emotional ballad was written by Otto Kelland in 1947. “It’s heart-warming that this song and his works still mean something to people today,” says Kelland’s daughter Jocelyn Kelland, who will be present for the induction ceremony at the Mary Brown’s Centre. Otto Kelland was inspired to write the lyrics to the song after meeting a young fisherman on the waterfront. The desperately homesick fisherman related that he had been working off the coast of Boston, but he would rather fish in his own dory off St. Mary’s, and eat only one meal a day rather than have three meals a day in a big city. more, CLICK TO READ<< 07:26
