The limitations placed on dining, workplaces and businesses to curb the spread of the coronavirus are just the latest in a string of hard hits for the Louisiana’s seafood industry, which has faced one problem after another in the last few years.
As Business Report details in a new feature, the industry was already battling competition from foreign imports, which undercut prices and inspired the Louisiana Legislature in 2019 to pass a seafood labelling law requiring restaurant menus to label whether shrimp and crawfish are of Louisiana origin.
In 2019, the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway for 123 days released an influx of freshwater from the Mississippi River into oyster-harvesting areas, decimating the supply. Add to that, the 2020 hurricane season, in which the state’s fertile waters and seafood farms faced off against five named landfalling storms.
To the west, coastal parishes impacted by Hurricane Laura—the strongest storm to make landfall—are home to nearly 2,500 commercial fishers and vessels combined and more than 100 wholesale seafood dealers, according to a letter released by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards after the storm. Additionally, approximately 100 licensed charter captains dock their boats in the impacted parishes.
To help the industry cope with losses from the coronavirus pandemic, the Louisiana seafood industry received $14.8 million in CARES Act funding. That cash is being distributed as grants through the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and Gulf States Marine Fisheries.
However, critics say the CARES Act funding wasn’t nearly enough. Despite Louisiana being the nation’s second-largest seafood supplier, the $14.8 million allocation was the eighth-largest amount received by a state or tribe. Others criticize how little attention the state’s $2.4 billion seafood industry receives in regional and state economic development planning. Read the full story from the latest edition of Business Report.
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March 15, 2021 at 09:50PM
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Pandemic stresses already-challenged Louisiana seafood industry - Greater Baton Rouge Business Report
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