Saving Seafood

Louisiana seafood industry says adequate federal help is needed as the pandemic persists

August 4, 2020 — People working in Louisiana’s seafood industry and their advocates hope Congress treats fishermen better when it passes the latest COVID-19 aid package.

The pandemic is crushing restaurants and by extension the local seafood industry.

Pete Gerica is a longtime commercial fisherman.

“Your in-town sales, your sales out of state and all that, everything is at a standstill basically,” said Gerica.

Because of rising cases of the deadly virus Louisiana restaurants have mandated capacity limits.

“Everything is at a standstill basically with everybody with 25, 45, 50 percent of their sales and all of the wholesalers and retailers that we deal with directly they’re all having a rough go of it just like we are,” Gerica stated.

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser works with the seafood industry.

Read the full story at WAFB

US lieutenant governors call for more inspections on imported seafood

July 24, 2019 — Lieutenant governors in the United States have put their weight behind a resolution sponsored by Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser (R-Louisiana) calling for additional inspections of imported seafood.

The resolution was approved at the National Lieutenant Governors Association annual meeting, which took place last week in Wilmington, Delaware. It calls on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to “take immediate measures” to inspect foreign seafood, both at the point of harvest and when it enters the country.

Nungesser’s resolution was supported by Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz (D–Connecticut), Lt. Governor Bethany Hall-Long (D–Delaware), Lt. Governor Kate Marshall (D–Nevada) and Lt. Governor Kevin Meyer (R–Alaska).

The resolution calls on the creation of an inspection fee in the range of USD 0.05 (EUR 0.04) to USD 0.10 (EUR 0.09) per pound. Seafood caught by American fishermen and sent overseas for processing would be exempt from the inspection process.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

LOUISIANA: Seafood industry pushes to make federal aid available

May 31, 2019 — Louisiana lieutenant governor and several Louisiana seafood industry groups are seeking to ensure that fishermen and harvesters affected by the Morganza Spillway’s opening can apply for federal aid to help them recover.

The Army Corps of Engineers is scheduled to open the spillway June 6, sending massive amounts of water from the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya Basin. The action aims to relieve pressure on Mississippi River levees that protect cities along its route, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

But Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser and seafood industry representatives said today that pushing an estimated 1.5 million cubic-feet-per-second of rushing freshwater into a fragile ecosystem of more than 100 species of fish and aquatic life threatens the species and the fishermen, harvesters and businesses that depend on them.

“The opening of the Morganza Spillway will cause severe damage to the Atchafalaya Basin, our nation’s largest estuary,” Nungesser wrote in a letter he sent today to Gov. John Bel Edwards and Louisiana’s congressional delegation.

“The opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway earlier this year already has negatively impacted seafood in Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne,” he said. “New fresh water flow into the basin will further impact the livelihoods of thousands of Gulf fisherman, as well as crawfish and oyster farmers. My office is also asking Congress to include assistance for the seafood industry in any future disaster recovery bills.”

Louisiana’s seafood industry is likely to be negatively impacted for months and potentially years, Nungesser said in a news release.

Read the full story at Houma Today

Louisiana Lt. Governor Nungesser Tours Maine Aquaculture With Gulf Seafood Leaders

July 26, 2017 — Southern drawls and Cajun accents mixed with New England Down East tones as 20 members of the Gulf seafood community toured Maine’s innovative aquaculture facilities to identify potential opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico.

One voice on the tour was that Billy Nungesser, Lt. Governor of Louisiana, who sees a huge need and opportunity for his state to become an aquaculture leader in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the world.

Nungesser thinks that environmentally sound and sustainable aquaculture is needed in all the states that ring the Gulf to meet the ever-growing need for fresh fish worldwide. He admits that Gulf States, including his, are behind the curve in investing in the growing worldwide trend toward farm-raised fish.

Nungesser joined other state officials, fisherman, processors and seafood stakeholders in the tour organized by the Gulf Seafood Institute and hosted by the Maine Aquaculture Association. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provided funding for learning experience.

Read the full story at the Gulf Seafood Foundation