April 20, 2020 — A program started almost a decade ago to help commercial fishermen locally and across Louisiana’s coast sell their catches directly to customers is paying off for some amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Stay-at-home orders and shutdowns the state has ordered in an effort to slow the deadly virus’s spread have closed or slowed business at many restaurants and markets, wreaking havoc on the supply chain upon which fishermen usually rely. Freezers at most large seafood processing companies were full, or filling up, and labor became unreliable.
That’s where Louisiana Direct Seafood comes in, says Robert Twilley, executive director of Louisiana Sea Grant, which launched the online-based program in 2011.
It helps commercial fishermen, shrimpers, crabbers and oyster harvesters sell a portion of their catch directly to the public at premium prices. And that helps offset sinking dockside prices due to imports, increased fuel costs and the financial struggles resulting from 2019′s spring floods.