Saving Seafood

LSU AgCenter, Louisiana Sea Grant aim to help struggling seafood industry

April 6, 2020 — The LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant are working to help the seafood industry, which is struggling with a massive financial challenge created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Restaurants that use large amounts of seafood are only offering carryout service, and they have drastically scaled back their seafood purchases.

“I’m sure it’s less than 10% of its previous quantity,” said Rusty Gaude, LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant fisheries agent in the New Orleans area.

A seafood marketing program, Louisiana Direct Seafood, is one way of helping fishermen and dealers by connecting them directly with consumers.

The Louisiana Direct Seafood program helps consumers buy seafood from fishermen and vendors.

Fishermen in Cameron, Delcambre, Lafourche-Terrebonne and Southshore New Orleans areas post their fresh catch messages on a website. Customers are able to visit the site and see in real time who has fresh product ready for sale, where they are located and their contact information. Consumers can then contact the sellers directly to establish a price, place orders and arrange pickup at the docks or other locations.

Read the full story at The Houma Times

Guest-worker program helps Louisiana seafood facilities

February 8, 2016 — BATON ROUGE — Congress’ decision to quadruple the size of a guest-worker program might be described as a gift to Louisiana’s seafood processing industry, which struggles to fill the seasonal jobs each year.

The LSU AgCenter says about 60 Louisiana seafood processing facilities hire more than 2,000 guest workers each year to peel crawfish and shrimp, shuck oysters and filet fish. Most of the workers come from Mexico and Central America and work 60 hours a week for a few months.

In Louisiana, the top guest-worker jobs include landscaping, packers and packaging, forestry and conservation, construction, and production helpers.

Ben LeGrange, general manager of Atchafalaya Crawfish Processing in Henderson, said  the plant typically hires 50 or 60 guest workers a season, mainly women who peel crawfish.

According to the LSU AgCenter, about 60 Louisiana seafood processing facilities hire more than 2,000 guest workers each year to peel crawfish and shrimp, shuck oysters and filet fish. Most of the workers come from Mexico and Central America and work 60 hours a week for a few months.

The processing season may last from about March to June, where the crawfish season can run November to July, LeGrange said. The processing time varies from season to season, depending on what’s being produced by farmers and fishermen.

“You really have trouble finding local help because it’s erratic. It’s not a set, defined time period,” LeGrange said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Advertiser