Tag Archives: domestic shrimp industry
Valley shrimping companies looking for a way out
Rio Grande Valley shrimpers say they’re ready to sell off their fleets. For years, they’ve faced big losses, and they’re still waiting for help. At the Port of Brownsville, the dock owned by Reyes Trawlers Inc. is one of the few shrimping companies still running most of its boats. The shrimping industry has faced several years of high fuel prices, problems getting worker visas and competition from cheap imports. For many, it’s time to get out of the business. “I 
am almost 73 years old, been doing this since I was 17 years old, and yes I would like to get out today. There’s no profit anymore. I’m just here just because, I’m losing money. For the last three years I’ve lost money,” Reyes Trawlers Inc. owner Carlton Reyes said. Reyes is running five out of six vessels, while many other shrimpers have their fleet docked and unable to work. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:14
Cheap Imports Leave US Shrimpers Struggling to Compete
“We are paying to work. We are paying to feed our nation,” said Kindra Arnesen, at a rally on the steps of Louisiana’s towering capitol in Mid-May. “I ask for immediate emergency action at all levels. Nothing else will be accepted by this group.” The 45 year-old shrimp harvester, who has been hailed as a voice for the Gulf and has fought for decades to sustain the domestic shrimp industry, was surrounded by nearly a hundred other harvesters who had traveled inland from their homes along coastal Louisiana to Baton Rouge to rally for livable shrimp prices. “Nobody can make money,” said Ronald Johnston, a 64-year-old shrimper who came to the U.S. in 1981 as a Vietnamese refugee. At the rally he held a lime-green poster that read: “Shrimp: $.40 cents. Diesel: $3.95” while sitting on a scooter that helps with his mobility. Photos, >click to read and comment< 08:01
