Many of the Gulf’s shrimpers are facing hard decisions. With controversy surrounding the safety of the Gulf’s seafood, Shrimpers don’t want to fish for a product with no market.
After the BP Oil Spill on April 20, 2010 that killed 11 crew members aboard the Deepwater Horizon, the Gulf seafood, specifically the Shrimping industry, has fallen out. No one wants to buy supposed contaminated seafood or be the ones selling the contaminated food, fearing legal repercussions.
The State of Louisiana has requested that BP help the shrimping market buy paying a preimium at the docks for shrimpers products to help the seafood market rebound to where it once was. Currently, a pound of shrimp is going in some places as low as 80 cents a pound. With these prices, many shrimpers can not afford to continue their fishing trips sighting losses rather than breaking even much less a profit.
Below is an article from MSN explaining the current situation that many Gulf Shrimpers face.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39067151/ns/business-us_business/
