September 27, 2018 — During a major hurricane, fish migrate away, oysters get contaminated and shrimp are blown to sea, scattered to deeper waters.
Though sometimes unnoticed, the seafood industry takes a big hit after storms like Florence. Not only does the crop move, but fishermen often live and work in the coastal communities that take the brunt of the storm’s rage.
“We get overlooked real easy. We are isolated to the coast. And unlike the agricultural industry, this affects everyone,” said Glenn Skinner, executive director of the North Carolina Fisheries Association. “Everyone who fishes is affected by this.”
Their boats, gear, docks and packing houses take a blow.
Anticipating the power outages, many fishermen got as much seafood as they could out of their giant cooling lockers and shipped it north and west. Any inventory that touches flood waters must be discarded.
Florence struck Pamlico County fishermen the hardest, according to Skinner. Some fish packing operations in Oriental and Vandemere were completely destroyed.
“It’s going to be a real hard winter for the industry,” Skinner said.
“We are kind of like farmers, we have a fall crop,” he explained. “The fall fisheries are big. We use that money and put it away for the winter time. The fisheries are going to be gone after this strong blow for several days. It will be next spring before we can make that up.”