March 27, 2020 — Regulations and foreign trade have battered local shrimpers for years, and the economic quagmire caused by Covid-19 is only adding to the problems.
During Lent, sales of shrimp can double or even triple, but the closure of restaurants has frozen sales – literally. Because sales have plummeted, many shrimp processors are keeping their product on ice to wait out the crisis. This leaves a grim outlook for the future of the shrimping industry.
“Sales have plummeted,” said Kimberly Chauvin, of David Chauvin Seafood Company in Dulac. “I think we are down about 90-something percent.”
In 2018, Gulf of Mexico commercial fishermen caught 374 million pounds of seafood worth $780 million, according to the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance.
Chauvin said processors are keeping their product frozen, and this has meant that many shrimpers are staying on shore to avoid unstable prices. The larger shrimp are frozen with their heads still intact, preserving product to be sold at a later date but, Chauvin said, the overhead cost remains the same. Costs like utilities, payroll, insurance and licenses must still be met, and while she has heard talk of financial assistance to small businesses, she said she hasn’t seen action.