Tag Archives: Low shrimp prices
Shrimp season reopens in the Gulf of Mexico, Aransas Pass fleet heads that way
Shrimp season is back in full swing at Conn Brown Harbor now that state and federal waters have reopened to commercial shrimping. It’s a busy time for shrimpers after being closed for over two months. “Boats are coming out of Palacios, Aransas Pass, Brownsville, Galveston. All the different ports,” Aransas Pass local Cecil Robles said. An armada of shrimp boats is off to the Gulf of Mexico, hoping to fill their nets with tiny treasures. Robles works at Conn Brown Harbor, where he fuels shrimp boats for Erickson and Jensen seafood packers. “The next few days, we’ll start to hear from them about what they’re catching and how abundant the fish are,” Robles said. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:59
Shrimpers face pricing issues
“I’ve been in the business with my parents when they were alive, straight out of high school, which is about thirty something years ago. I have never seen the price of shrimp this low,” said Jose Cuevas Jr., owner of Los Tortugos Seafood Market. Cuevas has a fleet consisting of eleven shrimp boat. He says all of his boats are now sitting idle because it’s not cost effective to go fish. He said it costs 30 to 40 thousand dollars just to fuel up one boat to go out. Other shrimpers are having the same issues with fuel costs keeping them docked. “Usually for us, around this time of year, fuel prices are a dollar fifty. Right now, they’re at close to three dollars, so double,” said Alberto Ochoa, owner of Ochoa Trawlers. Video, more, >>click to read<< 15:02
High fuel prices, cheap shrimp cripple Louisiana’s shrimping industry, still recovering from Ida
Nearly a year later, the residents there and other fishing villages along the coast have yet to fully recover. Record high fuel costs and low shrimp prices are making that recovery even more difficult. Darrell Domangue, 56, has been living in Cocodrie all his life and shrimping is all he has ever known. However, with shrimp going for 75 cents to $1 per pound and the cost of fuel increasing, he wonders if he will be able to pay back the $105,000 he borrowed to buy a new boat. The average price per gallon for diesel in Louisiana is now at $5.37, up from $2.91 a year ago, AAA data shows. 18 photos, >click to read< 08:50
Low shrimp prices are hurting local fisherman who blame imports
Local shrimpers are seeing some of the lowest shrimp prices in history, and most blame imported shrimp. Jimmie Dupré has been shrimping for 61 years. He says he plans to retire soon because the industry is taking a turn for the worst. He says, “We can’t get good prices and they drop every time they have an open season, they drop the prices. They claim it’s on the imports. Now, who imports the shrimp? The processors import the shrimp. And they keep saying well it imports if it’s the import shrimp stop importing the damn thing.” There’s been talk of shrimpers going on strike if prices don’t increase but Dupré says that won’t fix the problem. >click to read<09:35
