Tag Archives: Georgia
Thousands celebrate local shrimp industry in McIntosh County
Darien celebrated their 57th annual Blessing of the Fleet festival this weekend. Thousands headed to the small town to celebrate the history that the local shrimp industry has in McIntosh County. People WTOC spoke with at this year’s Blessing of the Fleet event said this is the largest crowd they’ve seen in years and everyone’s out here to support local fishermen, the shrimping industry, and wish them luck in their next shrimping season. “Everybody loves the festival, and we’re able to tie in the importance of our commercial fishing industry, particularly our shrimpers, in all the fun,” said Darien-McIntosh Chamber of Commerce, President & CEO, Kat Hoyt. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:29
Shrimp bill hits rough waves in Georgia Senate
With little more than a week remaining in this year’s meeting of the Georgia General Assembly, a bill to help protect the livelihoods of Coastal Georgia shrimpers from the deluge of imported foreign shrimp has run into uncertain waters. The culprit, says Coastal Georgia shrimp advocate John Wallace, is the restaurant industry. The measure, introduced in January by Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah) and co-sponsored by Al Williams (D-Midway), Rick Townsend (R-Brunswick), Buddy DeLoach (R-Townsend), and Lehman Franklin (R-Statesboro), would require restaurants and other food service establishments to inform customers of the origin of their shrimp and other seafood. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:51
Savannah shrimp scandal: New study reveals majority of local restaurants serve imported shrimp
Tybee Seafood Market owner Brian Anderson, “Pond-raised products are not coming into this store. It’s not going to happen,” Anderson said firmly.
A new study has uncovered that more than 70% of shrimp served in Savannah’s seafood restaurants is imported, raising concerns about transparency and food safety. The findings come amid growing support for a Georgia seafood bill that would require restaurants to disclose where their seafood, especially shrimp, comes from. SEAD Consulting, a research firm specializing in food sourcing, tested shrimp at 44 seafood restaurants in the Savannah area. The company used the Rapid ID Genetic High-Accuracy Test (RIGHTTest) to perform the testing. Seventy-seven percent of those establishments were found to be serving imported shrimp rather than locally sourced seafood. Only 10 restaurants in the study could confirm their shrimp came from Georgia waters. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:25
Restaurant Testing Exposes Rampant Shrimp Mislabeling in Savannah
A recent investigation by SEAD Consulting reveals that 77% (34 of 44) of sampled restaurants in Savannah, Georgia falsely market their shrimp as premium U.S. wild-caught shrimp when they are actually serving farm-raised imported shrimp. The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), representing the U.S. shrimp fishermen, processors, and related businesses across all eight Gulf and South Atlantic shrimp-producing states, including Georgia, commissioned the testing to highlight deceptive restaurant practices that harm local shrimpers, honest restaurants, and mislead consumers who expect a premium product. In 2024, SSA worked with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to inform seafood restaurants that it is a violation of federal law for restaurants to create an impression that they are offering wild-caught domestic shrimp when farmed, foreign shrimp is being served. Yet, the results of random testing underscore the urgent need for stronger labeling laws and enforcement to ensure transparency in the restaurant industry. links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:14
Georgia’s Food Shrimp Season Extended Until Jan 17
Georgia’s commercial and recreational food shrimp season has been extended to Jan. 17, 2025. This decision by the Commissioner of Natural Resources was based on scientific data and favorable environmental conditions and aims to provide fishers with additional opportunities while maintaining sustainability. The extension applies to Georgia’s territorial waters, which extend three miles out to sea, and allows for the continued harvest of food shrimp by both commercial and recreational fishers. For more information, visit CoastalGaDNR.org or call 912-264-7218. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:25
Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president, has died at 100
Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, roughly 22 months after entering hospice care, at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023, spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. “My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:46
Darien shrimpers brace for Hurricane Milton
Communities across the southeast are closely watching Hurricane Milton as it crosses the gulf, especially local counties close to the Florida border. While shrimpers in Darien brace for Hurricane Milton, they’re still recovering from the effects of Helene. Shrimping is a major industry for the area, shrimpers say any storm causes concerns for them. “It has all the shrimp boat owners and captains pretty nervous about everything,” said local shrimper Jamey Bennett. While recovering, these shrimpers say they’re preparing for what’s next. “Believe it or not, most of the boats at this dock didn’t even take the lines off from the other hurricane because we seen the other one was brewing,” said shrimper Dwight “Wynn” Darwin Gale. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:35
Iconic Brunswick shrimp boat sinks during Helene
The Dora F, the second oldest shrimp fishing vessel operating on the East Coast, broke free from its dock in Brunswick’s East River and sank as Helene unleashed her strongest winds on the Golden Isles early Friday morning. The vessel, captained by Johnny Ray Bennett, was tied to the Lady Raven and the City Market docks off of Bay Street during the storm, Bruce Collins of City Market said. The Lady Raven took on water and began to sink, putting pressure on and eventually snapping the line that lashed the Dora F to the dock, he said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:52
Hurricane Helene death toll climbs to 134 as search for missing in North Carolina continues
The death toll from Hurricane Helene continues to climb as rescue efforts persist across the Southeast. Hard-hit regions, including parts of western North Carolina, are receiving aid from various states as emergency crews work to reach isolated communities devastated by catastrophic flooding. The death toll attributed to Helene’s impacts has been steadily climbing, with at least 134 people now confirmed dead in six states – Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. President Joe Biden announced he will travel to the region on Wednesday and is expected to visit Asheville, North Carolina, to get a firsthand look at the devastation. Biden is also expected to visit Florida and Georgia. Photos, Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:47
Southeast US devastated by remnants of Hurricane Helene
The remnants of Hurricane Helene have caused devastation across the Southeastern United States, leaving dozens dead, many stranded, and millions without power. Helene, the strongest hurricane recorded to hit Florida’s Big Bend region, has since weakened to a post-tropical cyclone but is still bringing catastrophic flooding, powerful winds, and unthinkable damage up the east coast from Florida to Virginia. As of Sunday, at least 60 people were reported dead. Landslides and flooding as a result of the tropical storm have left entire towns, families, even hospitals cut off and stranded needing rescue. Many across five states were left unprepared for the life-changing destruction as Helene intensified quickly during the week. Hurricane researchers estimated that unusually warm ocean temperatures combined with swift changes in wind heights may be the reason for the intense development. Video, Links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:04
Dozens dead and millions without power after Helene’s deadly march across southeastern US
Hurricane Helene caused dozens of deaths and billions of dollars of destruction across a wide swath of the southeastern U.S. as it raced through, and more than 3 million customers went into the weekend without any power and for some a continued threat of floods. Helene blew ashore in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday packing winds of 140 mph (225 kph) and then quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, splintering homes and sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams. The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, was expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. Several flood and flash flood warnings remained in effect in parts of the southern and central Appalachians, while high wind warnings also covered parts of Tennessee and Ohio. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:54
Do these Georgia waterways support “significant” commercial activity? A federal agency says no
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the agency hasn’t dredged nine Georgia waterways in decades – and there hasn’t been much impact as a result. So they’re considering asking Congress to de-authorize them from federal maintenance. But Georgia seafood harvesters and others say that’s not true. They argue that there’s plenty of commercial activity on Georgia’s smaller coastal waterways to justify keeping them authorized for future dredging. Charlie Phillips of Townsend, in northern McIntosh County, owns two seafood harvesting businesses, Phillips Seafood and Sapelo Sea Farms. “It’s going to need to be dredged sooner or later,” he said, noting that some areas on the Sapelo River already are troublesome for some boats at low tide. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:41
Agreement reached in fishermen’s suit against Golden Ray
Federal lawsuits filed by commercial fishermen and charter fishing captains against the owners and operators of the Golden Ray were dismissed after an agreement was reached by all sides. A joint stipulation of dismissal filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of Georgia said the “parties have resolved this litigation.” Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The Golden Ray capsized on its port side in the early hours of Sept. 8, 2019, while heading to sea with 4,161 vehicles and an estimated 380,000 of fuel in its tanks. Shrimpers like Johnny Bennett, captain of the Dora F, told The News in September 2022, when the lawsuit was filed, that he and his peers had been pulling up car bumpers and other parts from the water in their nets after the shipwreck. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:17
Georgia food shrimp harvest season opens June 18
Georgia’s 2024 commercial and recreational food shrimp season will open in state waters at 8 a.m. Tuesday, June 18, 2024. The opening applies to Georgia’s territorial waters from shore to three nautical miles offshore. Data from CRD’s Ecological Monitoring Trawl Survey, which monitors shrimp populations year-round, showed the fishery in May was producing higher numbers of shrimp over the 5-year average, although their sizes were negligibly smaller than shrimp from the same period. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:59
Big crowd turns out for 86th Blessing of the Fleet
The 86th annual Blessing of the Fleet Saturday had a new wrinkle with the holy water coming from on high. During past blessings, Catholic priests have stood on the bows or decks of tow boats or other ships and showered fishing boats and pleasure craft with holy water and they pronounced blessings. On Saturday, Father Timothy McKeown of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, rode a Brunswick Fire Department ladder to a spot over the East River and blessed the passing vessels from above. 12 Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:42
White shrimp Georgia’s official crustacean
Gov. Brian Kemp brought his bill-signing tour to Brunswick Thursday, signing a package of measures related to coastal issues. House Bill 1341 declares the white shrimp Georgia’s official crustacean. White shrimp account for 70% of the state’s annual shrimp harvest, Kemp told coastal Georgia political and business leaders during a ceremony at the state Department of Natural Resources Coastal Regional Headquarters. House Speaker Jon Burns said having an official state crustacean will help promote Georgia white shrimp to consumers at restaurants and grocery stores. “It’s a family business. It’s gone on in our state for generations,” said Burns, R-Newington. “We want to ensure the opportunity continues to exist in the future.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:21
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
From Bubba Gump to bust? American shrimpers face extinction.
On a chilly December morning, the captain of the Miss Patti is ready to throw his lines and go shrimping – well, almost. Brian Jordan’s deckhand is in a foul mood, and it’s no wonder why. Is any of this worth it? Here on the tiny working waterfront of Tybee Island, Georgia, the hesitancy is logical. Shrimp prices cratered this year, and hundreds of boats from Brownsville, Texas, to Harkers Island, North Carolina, remained dockside. The problem hasn’t been a lack of shrimp or the price of diesel. Instead, freezers across the United States are filled to the gills. A glut of imported shrimp has dropped the price to about half of what shrimp boats received in the 1980s. At stake is the livelihood of Mr. Jordan and shrimpers like him nationwide. They can’t compete with overseas rivals who raise and harvest shrimp in lower-cost “aquaculture’’ farms. more, >>click to read<< 13:06
Recreational, commercial shrimp season closes in state waters
Georgia’s commercial and recreational food shrimp season closed on Thursday, Jan. 18, and will open again in May. This season saw 184 licensed shrimp trawlers in Georgia’s water, 117 of which were Georgia residents. On average, these shrimpers harvested 16.788 pounds of shrimp tails per hour spent trawling, the highest catch per unit effort on record. The closure affects Georgia’s territorial waters three nautical miles out to sea. This year’s is the highest CPUE CRD has recorded. Diesel fuel prices continue to challenge Georgia’s shrimping industry, with the national average price of No. 2 diesel fuel sitting at $4.214, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. more, >>lick to read<< 19:20
F/V Carol Ann: Families suspend search for missing Brunswick fishermen
If Chris Barlow could go back to Oct. 14 and tell his son Tyler Barlow to sit this commercial fishing trip out, he would. Instead, 45 days later, the last privately funded helicopter flight searching for signs of the fishing vessel Carol Ann and its crew, Tyler Barlow, Caleb Wilkinson and Dalton Conway, landed. “It is with great sadness that we are informing everyone that the helicopter that landed at 4:38 P.M. today will be our last flight unless we receive new information,” Chris Barlow posted to Facebook on Tuesday afternoon. “We are suspending our active search effort as we have exhausted every lead we currently have, although we have found numerous boat wrecks and debris none have been linked to the Carol Ann.” more, >>click to read<< 09:40
Coastal Georgia shrimpers fear loss of industry as foreign seafood crowds market
“Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it gets worse,” said Pat Mathews, the owner of the Lazaretto Packing Co. on Tybee Island, as he walked away from a truck idling in the loading zone. Early on a Monday morning in October in the height of shrimp season the driver had come to pick up a load of freshly caught shrimp from the James W. Salyers, a shrimp boat captained by David Attia. The driver delivered disappointing news, informing Pat that this would be the last load he would be able to pick up for the foreseeable future. The Mathews family has been in the seafood business for over a century. Where they once owned several seafood markets, their business now centers on the dock they own at Tybee, one of the few hubs of the industry that has been an iconic business on Georgia’s 100-mile coast. >>click to read<< 10:53
Family: Life raft from missing Brunswick fishermen may have been spotted
Over a month after the F/V Carol Ann disappeared off the coast of Brunswick, the discovery of debris from the boat and a possible sighting of a life raft has the families of three missing boaters clinging to hope. Dalton Conway, Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow set off on a fishing trip 80 miles off the coast of Brunswick on October 14 and never came home. A fishing bin from the boat was discovered about 16 miles off the shore of St. Augustine Sunday, a sign that their boat may be nearby. Jones, met up with Wilkinson’s mom, Jennifer Monday evening in Marineland where they suspended the search due to darkness. Monday, a helicopter crew hired by the boaters’ family may have seen a red life raft floating in the water near Crescent Beach. Video, >>click to read<< 06:27
Debris from boat of 3 missing fisherman found off coast of St. Augustine
Debris from the boat of three missing Georgia fisherman was found 16 miles off the coast of St. Augustine Sunday night, according to the United Cajun Navy. The owner of the F/V Carol Ann confirmed the recently found debris, which was a fish box and the buoy balls on the boat. The three missing fisherman, Tyler Barlow, Caleb Wilkinson and Dalton Conway, went on what was planned to be a four-day fishing trip. Video, >>click to read<< 21:31
Families continue search for three missing fishermen
Chris Barlow has learned more in the past few weeks about the flow of ocean currents and how search and rescue operations work than he ever wanted to know. But the desperate hunt for his missing son and two other men who left Oct. 14 aboard the Carol Ann commercial fishing boat has forced Barlow and the families of the other men to continue the search on their own. Chris Barlow and the families of the other men aboard the Carol Ann refused to give up and have funded their own search, which continued Tuesday as a plane flew over eddies identified on the western edge of the Gulf Stream off shore north of Savannah in the Carolinas and up into Virginia. His hope is that data collected by the flight will shed some light on what may have happened to the fishing boat. >>click to read<< 11:47
F/V Carol Ann: Girlfriend of missing Georgia fisherman announces pregnancy as private search efforts continue
Stevie Conway, the girlfriend to missing fisherman Caleb Wilkinson, has publicly announced that she’s four months pregnant as the search continues for Wilkinson, her brother Dalton Conway and their friend Tyler Barlow. The three men were reported missing off the coast of Brunswick on Oct. 21 when the owner of the boat they were on grew concerned after the vessel failed to return on time. With the Coast Guard search suspended, the families of the three men are using other resources to search. They started a GoFundMe last week to fund private pilots and planes to look for them and managed to get Rep. Steven Sainz to enlist the help of the Cajun Navy, a non-profit that organizes search and rescue teams during national disasters. >>click to read<< 13:52
Families of missing boaters continue search without Coast Guard’s help
A group of friends has now been missing at sea for nearly two weeks, and despite the U.S. Coast Guard calling off its search for them, the fishermen’s families are still holding out hope the group will be found. Dalton Conway, Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow left the port city of Brunswick, Georgia, on a 31-foot fishing vessel named Carol Ann Oct. 14. They planned to travel 80 miles into the open sea to a popular fishing spot before heading back Oct. 18, but they have yet to turn up. Chris Barlow, the father of missing boater Tyler Barlow, told Scripps News an initial possible sighting of the boat turned out to be a different vessel. He also said the Coast Guard’s assumption that the boat would self-deploy an emergency signal if submerged was false; the signal would instead need to be manually deployed. >>click to read<< 07:28
Survivor From Lost Fishing Boat Saved After Coast Guard Ended Search
This week, the U.S. Coast Guard ended searches for two commercial fishing vessels that each disappeared without a trace, one in Washington and another in Georgia. The Washington case ended in a miracle: a crewmember was found alive after formal search efforts had ended. On Tuesday, Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor announced that it had launched a search for a 43-foot commercial fishing vessel, the Evening, which was nine days overdue. Miraculously, one crewmember of the Evening survived and was found by a good Samaritan vessel on Thursday morning – a day after the formal search ended. He was floating in a life raft off the west coast of Vancouver Island, near Tofino. The whereabouts of the other crewmember are not known. On Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard suspended a search for a commercial fishing vessel F/V Carol Ann that had gone missing with three crewmembers off the coast of Brunswick, Georgia. >>click to read<< 07:15
Coast Guard suspends search for F/V Carol Ann, 80 miles off Brunswick, Georgia
The Coast Guard suspended its search, Thursday, for three people aboard an overdue 31-foot fishing vessel offshore Brunswick, Georgia, pending new information. Missing are Dalton Conway, Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow. Crews searched more than 94,000 square miles, an area larger in size than the states of Georgia and South Carolina combined, over the span of seven days. Coast Guard Sector Charleston watchstanders received a report from the owner of the fishing vessel Carol Ann stating he hired a crew of three people that failed to return on Wednesday, Oct. 18, as scheduled. The crew left on Saturday, Oct. 14, from Brunswick, Georgia, to fish approximately 80 miles offshore and last communicated with the owner of the vessel as they headed offshore. >>click to read the press release<< 20:50
F/V Carol Ann: Coast Guard will continue its search for missing Brunswick fishermen Thursday morning
The Coast Guard planned to end the search at sunset Wednesday, but family members of the men are begging for the Coast Guard to search further north. The Coast Guard says it hasn’t found any sign of the boat or a debris field so far. Dalton Conway, Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow left for a fishing trip aboard a 31-foot boat named the ‘Carol Ann’ on October 14th from Brunswick. The Coast Guard says the EPIRB it has not yet been activated. “We are focused on the search and rescue efforts of this case but, we do have investigators that will be looking at all aspects of of why this EPIRB is not going off,” Hide said. Video, >>click to read<< 06:55
F/V Carol Ann: Families praying for best in search for missing fishermen
Dalton Conway is no stranger to the waters offshore of Brunswick. As the Brunswick-based captain of a commercial fishing vessel and the son of a commercial fishing captain, he has made hundreds of trips in search of fish to sell to merchants and local restaurants. That is why it was alarming when he and his crew of two – Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow, both of Kingsland – didn’t return home as expected last Wednesday aboard the Carol Ann, said Stevie Conway, Dalton’s sister and Wilkinson’s girlfriend. Wednesday arrivals from fishing trips are normal, Conway said, because the bounty of the catch can be sold to vendors and merchants on Thursday. “My brother goes anytime the weather is good,” Stevie Conway said. “This is his career. He does this for a living.” Hordes of search and rescue crews from multiple area U.S. Coast Guard stations, Coast Guard cutters and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources continued searching Monday for the boat and the men after they were reported missing on Friday by the owner of the Carol Ann, Josh Morgan of Brunswick. >>click to read<< 20:05
