September 2, 2014 — The dominant word in the posts and the radio chatter today is “strike,” and it nearly happened Tuesday. It might still happen.
It has to do with the price.
Over the past two years fishermen have been getting the best prices ever for their shrimp, the result of several market factors not the least of which is an ailment in the shrimp ponds of Asia that strikes the little darlings early in life, resulting in far fewer imports here and a far greater demand for what fishermen catch in the wild.
For a rare moment in time the fishermenand the processors, within whose doors most of the shrimp caught here winds up, were happy with themselves and each other.
The relationships between buyer and seller can be quite tense, a phenomenon rooted not just in dollars but in emotions. There are sons of processers who will tell you how as kids they were jumped in the schoolyards by sons of fishermen, and sons of fishermen who will tell you of sins against their fathers by the processors.
Read the full story at the Tri-Parish Times