February 22, 2015 — Crawfish farmers, processors and fans are running into a complicated menu of problems as Louisiana’s unique industry faces “a helluva pickle”. With the Ash Wednesday kick off of the prime mudbug season, crawfish fanatics are in for a roller coater ride on whether peeled crawfish will be available for etouffee and other favorite dishes served across the state in famous restaurants and at home, according to Gulf Seafood Institute (GSI) founding member Frank Randol.
“We’ve survived freezes and floods and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,” said the Lafayette seafood processor and owner of Randol’s Restaurant. “But this is a government-made disaster, on two fronts.”
Problems rest in the federal government’s handling of how H2B guest workers enter the U.S. and are paid for seasonal work. Louisiana’s seafood processing and hospitality industries depend upon these workers who come mostly from Mexico and Central America.
“These workers provide the labor at seafood processing plants,” he explained about the program. “Such guest workers are necessary because local workers won’t take the jobs.”
Read the full story from the Gulf Seafood Institute