December 21, 2021 — The fruits of the sea are in high demand and consumers just can’t seem to get enough.
It seems to be especially true of the delectable, firm-fleshed red snapper, perhaps the most highly sought fish along the Texas gulf coast.
And where there’s demand, there’s money to be made, and legal niceties don’t apply.
Read the full story at SeafoodNews.com
July 19, 2021 — It’s the hidden U.S.-Mexico border war.
For years, Mexican fisherman have crossed into U.S. waters to illegally catch high-priced red snapper. It has become a multimillion-dollar black market, a Mexican cartel is involved, Texas fishermen are outraged and the federal government can’t seem to stop it.
The U.S. Coast Guard on South Padre Island has a one-of-a-kind mission among the 197 stations along the nation’s seacoasts. Its chief enforcement activity entails bouncing across the swells of the Gulf of Mexico near lower Texas in pursuit of wily Mexican fishing boats filled with plump, rosy fish destined for seafood houses in Mexico City and Houston.
These are the red snapper poachers.
“United States Coast Guard! Stop your vessel! Stop your vessel!” yells a Coastie into his bullhorn as the 900-horsepower, fast-pursuit boat pulls alongside the Mexican lancha. Four Mexican fishermen tried to outrun it but thought better and throttled down. The fishermen are handcuffed, their catch is confiscated and the boat is towed back to the Coast Guard station.
July 14, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
What/When:
NOAA Fisheries announces federal waters from 9 to 200 nautical miles off Texas will open to shrimp trawling beginning 30 minutes after official sunset, local time, on July 15, 2021, corresponding to the time Texas opens its waters to shrimp trawling.
Why This is Happening:
May 7, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Key Message:
NOAA Fisheries announces federal waters from 9 to 200 nautical miles off Texas will close to shrimp trawling 30 minutes after official sunset, local time, on May 15, 2021, corresponding to the time Texas closes its state waters to shrimp trawling.
Federal waters off Texas are west of the line (from A to B) shown in the map below. Fishermen should not use any other division between Texas and Louisiana federal waters, including lines on NOAA Chart 1116A, which is to be used for mineral rights and not for navigation.
Why This Closure Is Happening
The shrimp fishery is closed annually off Texas to allow brown shrimp to reach a larger and more valuable size prior to harvest, and to prevent waste of brown shrimp that might otherwise be discarded due to their small size.
The Texas closure ranges from 45 to 60 days. The closing date is based on catch rates of brown shrimp collected with seine gear by the Coastal Fisheries Division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, mean length of shrimp collected in April, percent of samples containing shrimp, and periods of maximum nocturnal ebb tidal flow.
Texas will re-open state waters to shrimp trawling based on sampling projections of when brown shrimp will reach a mean size of 112 mm, and when maximum duration ebb tides will occur. NOAA Fisheries will re-open federal waters off Texas when Texas re-opens its state waters. Historically, the re-opening has been on or about July 15. If there is a need to adjust the July 15 date for the re-opening, notification of the revised date will be published in the Federal Register and announced in a subsequent fishery bulletin.
April 22, 2021 — San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A.-based Restoring Integrity to the Oceans this week announced its new Plastic Neutral Program to help businesses mitigate the effects of plastics pollution.
The program’s first corporate sponsor, Logistics Plus, is a global transportation and supply chain company based in Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
January 29, 2021 — The Texas fishing industry is about to get a long-awaited $9 million that Congress allocated way back in March 2020.
Commercial fishing experienced “broad declines” as COVID-19 ravaged the country, according an analysis by NOAA Fisheries. Data shows that revenue among Gulf Coast and southeast fisheries fell sharply between February and June as the pandemic slowed the economy.
The $2.2 trillion CARES Act, which Congress passed in March, allocated $300 million for the fishing industry in coastal states. Texas was allocated $9 million, or 3 percent.
January 20, 2021 — The Gulf of Mexico’s largest coral sanctuary just got a lot bigger.
The federal government on Tuesday formally approved the expansion of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, increasing its size from 56 square miles to 160 square miles.
Tripling the sanctuary’s size will better protect fragile coral reefs that support a variety of fish and other marine life off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas, said G.P. Schmahl, the sanctuary’s superintendent.
“From an economic point of view, it’s critical for fish that are important both recreationally and commercially,” he said, noting the abundance of red snapper, grouper and mackerel in the sanctuary. “If you fish the Gulf of Mexico, these areas are where the fish you want to catch have spawned and grown.”
The expansion “has been a long haul,” Schmahl said. Initially proposed under the administration of President George W. Bush and formalized under President Barack Obama, the process finally concluded concluded during the final week of President Donald Trump’s administration.
October 26, 2020 — The Trump administration was taken to court on 21 October by three seafood-related companies that claim the federal government’s trade policies has harmed their businesses.
Texas-based Houston Seafood Company, LLC along with Gulf Marine Product Co., Inc. and Ningbo Trading Company, LLC, both based in Louisiana, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for Southern Texas.
October 14, 2020 — Louisiana will help inshore shrimpers buy turtle escape hatches that will be required next year for some boats in the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern Atlantic, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Tuesday.
The $250,000 program will pay up to 60% of the cost for two of the grates called “turtle excluder devices,” or TEDs, a news release said. Some of the money comes from BP payments to restore the Gulf after the oil spill in 2010.
Big offshore shrimp trawlers have had to use such devices since late 1989. Protests against that rule included shrimp-boat blockades of Texas and Louisiana ship channels.
September 10, 2020 — U.S. restaurants continue to face closures and bankruptcies as the COVID-19 pandemic makes a major impact on foodservice operators’ profitability.
Houston, Texas-based Luby’s is the latest financial victim of the coronavirus crisis, reporting in a press release that it has implemented a plan of liquidation and dissolution to dissolve the company.