Shrimp boats along the Gulf Coast are gearing up for a new season, but some of them may stay docked on an empty tank. Some shrimpers in Bayou La Batre, Alabama say the price of fuel is too high for their usual months-long shrimping trips.
Shrimp boats along the Gulf Coast are gearing up for a new season, but some of them may stay docked on an empty tank. Some shrimpers in Bayou La Batre, Alabama say the price of fuel is too high for their usual months-long shrimping trips. Joseph Rodriguez is keeping his boats tied to the docks for repairs while he waits for fuel costs to drop. "We're not buying no fuel right now. That's why she's floating too high," Rodriguez said. One of Rodriguez's shrimp boats holds 27,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a full tank. According to AAA, a gallon of diesel cost about $5.46 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, tariffs are causing another headache for shrimpers. In February, the Supreme Court ruled President Trump's tariffs on U.S. importers were unlawful. While Rodriguez's ships stay docked, his foreign competitors in the shrimping industry are now getting millions in tariff refunds. The Southern Shrimp Alliance says the U.S. made more than $900 million in tariff revenue on imported shrimp in the last year. The U.S. government is refunding it to foreign companies even though many shrimpers want that money to go back to the American shrimping industry. "We're in competition with the government of China, for God sakes, a communist country," Rodriguez said.
