Thread: MD- Lack of visas hurt crab industry

Please read!!!!!!

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-151170.html

What a bunch of crap. Mikulski is behind the effort to get illegal aliens into Maryland so that the fish industries have CHEAP HELP to pick through crabs. I wonder how much money they are paying her.

Mar 26, 2009 6:36 pm US/Eastern
Crab Season May Suffer Due To Limited Visas
Reporting
Alex DeMetrick
HOOPERS ISLAND, Md. (WJZ) ―


With the Chesapeake crab season due to start next week, it's another cliff hanger for the people on Hooper's Island in Dorchester County.

With the Chesapeake crab season due to start next week, it's another cliff hanger for the people on Hooper's Island in Dorchester County.

Alex DeMetrick reports it's a case of work but no workers to do it.

Of all the work boats on Hooper's Island, the "Maybe Baby" has the name that says it all.

"We're getting ready. I don't know what will happen, whether we'll get workers or not, but we have to be ready in case we do," said Harry Phillips, Russel Hall Seafood.

Seasonal crab pickers from Mexico are called in to work the packing houses because no one else will. While Hooper's Island has turned to temporary workers from Mexico, so do a lot of other businesses.

Under U.S. law, no more than 66,000 visas a year can be issued for the entire country. That's more people than what fill a stadium for a Ravens game.

"This is a disaster. This is a looming disaster," said Jack Brooks, JM Clayton Seafood.

That's because packing houses can't apply for visas until six months before they are needed. But by then, all 66,000 visas are taken.

In the past, Maryland's Congressional Delegation has managed to increase the visa quota. They are trying again this year.

In the meantime, the wait is leaving lifestyles and livelihoods in limbo.

Maryland's Congressional Delegation has found sponsors from other states to support a bill increasing the number of visas, but so far that legislation also remains in limbo.
http://wjz.com/local/crab.workers.visas.2.968666.html

Who did the crab picking before? In the past? It wasn't always temporary workers from other countries! What are they paying these workers now?

Ostrich

Originally Posted by TheOstrich

Who did the crab picking before? In the past? It wasn't always temporary workers from other countries! What are they paying these workers now?

Ostrich

Good question Ostrich! I guess no one ate crabs until the mexicans and central americans came crabbing, huh?

1. I wouldn't buy Chesapeake Bay crabs even if I could afford it. 10 years is not long enough for any toxins to have been eliminated from the area.

2. If people aren't buying, we don't need "temp" migrants, do we?

Originally Posted by miguelina

I wouldn't buy Chesapeake Bay crabs even if I could afford it. 10 years is not long enough for any toxins to have been eliminated from the area.

I understand your position, but I have to just accept the toxins. In my opinion, there's nothing better than fresh Maryland Blue Crabs and picking those crabs myself. Never in my life have I found a food I like better.

As a kid from Annapolis, I used to go crabbing all the time. As I got older, we bought them from local crabbers. The main one was a white, American, shop teacher who had a side business. As far as I know, there were no foreigners involved in the process. With the exception of cheap labor, I don't know why it is now.

Originally Posted by ChiWatcher

In my opinion, there's nothing better than fresh Maryland Blue Crabs and picking those crabs myself. Never in my life have I found a food I like better.

You are so right ChiWatcher! As a kid I used to go crabbing with my grandmother in the Chesapeake Bay. It's a treasured memory and a longed-for flavor I've never been able to match anywhere else. But I've read that they've been vastly over harvested. Maybe it's just as well to harvest them less and let them replenish.