Texas Shrimping Industry Faces Critical Worker Shortage

Our daily roundup of Texas headlines.

By Becky FogelJuly 12, 2017 4:57 pm

The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.

The Texas shrimping industry’s worst fears are coming true. The new season starts Saturday and the industry is facing a massive worker shortage, because Congress did not renew a returning worker visa program at the beginning of this year.

Steve Clark, who covers business for the Brownsville Herald says most of the crewmembers on Texas shrimp boats normally come from Mexico.

And with fewer workers available, the boats will have smaller crews.

“They won’t be able to handle as much shrimp,” Clark says “and they won’t be able to head all the shrimp they catch – that means remove their heads – and apparently that lessens the value of the shrimp.”

In fact, about 20 percent of the shrimp boats in the Brownsville Port Isabel fleet aren’t going to go out at all this season.

“The irony too is apparently this is shaping up to be a great shrimp season in terms of the number of shrimp out there to catch,” Clark says. “So it adds insult to injury for these folks that now when they need more people than ever, they don’t have them.”

Clark adds that it isn’t just the Texas shrimping industry feeling the pain after the returning worker program was allowed to expire. It’s also hitting landscaping and hospitality industries around the country.




The most populous county in Texas will not sue the state over Senate Bill 4, the new state law that allows officers to ask people their immigration status.

The Harris County Commissioners Court meeting grew tense when the lawsuit came up Tuesday.

Houston Public Media’s Al Ortiz reports.

Activists and elected officials urged the Commissioners to join the lawsuit against SB 4.

State Sen. Sylvia Garcia was among those who voiced their concerns.

“This bill cannot be implemented without racial profiling and that’s what it will lead to,” Garcia said.

Judge Ed Emmett acknowledged that, on a personal level, he shares some of the worries.

“Clearly, the ‘show me your papers’ aspect of Senate Bill 4 is a vast overreach,” he said.

The debate got heated and a member of the audience demanded that Emmett and the commissioners take action.

“If you do not lead now we will run you over and vote you out of office! You’re on notice,” the audience member said.

During the outburst, Emmett asked for the woman to exit the room.

Commissioner Rodney Ellis proposed a motion to join the lawsuit, but neither Emmett nor any other commissioner supported the motion. So, a vote wasn’t held.




Texas ranked fourth on CNBC’s annual America’s Top States for Business list.

It’s the first time in the 11-year history of the list that the Lone Star State didn’t nab either the first or second spot.

CNBC attributes the drop in rankings to falling oil prices.

Washington got the number 1 spot.