Shrimp Fishermen Research Articles

Helping Gulf Shrimpers Adopt Safety Measures: Importance of Partnerships and Research to Practice

ABSTRACT Commercial fishing continues to be a dangerous line of work. There are many hazards and the work is complex, even on a small scale. Along the United States Gulf Coast, the make-up of the commercial fishing population is diverse, with many Vietnamese shrimpers. Cultural barriers can interfere with critical communication and with receptivity to necessary safety training. In the course of studying these factors, it became apparent that language was a significant barrier among Vietnamese shrimp fishermen learning sound signals and making Mayday calls, potentially contributing to adverse events. This article is a qualitative description of a pilot project in response to this observation and aimed at the development of a model simulating the bridge of a commercial fishing vessel (including horn blast and radio). The model is used to improve knowledge and skills of the fishermen by providing instruction in Vietnamese. As a Mayday call must be made in English, instructional aids are provided to assist fishermen in the exercise. This example of research to practice (r2p) demonstrates how research findings may enhance acquisition of safety knowledge and skills through development of these types of models as well sustainable instructional tools like the multi-lingual interactive CD described here. It further illustrates the importance of partnerships in the design and delivery of workplace safety training interventions. The model, instructional aids, and CD are timely as they coincide with new regulation which mandates certification of these competencies or skills.

Factors Influencing Safety Among a Group of Commercial Fishermen Along the Texas Gulf Coast

ABSTRACT The commercial fishing trades are among the most dangerous jobs in the world. Little published information exists regarding some populations of commercial fishermen such as along the United States Gulf Coast. Studying these unique and often vulnerable groups is important to characterize potential influences on or barriers to safety in anticipation of designing interventions that can change safety behaviors. Working closely with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), a cross-sectional convenience sample of Gulf Coast shrimp fishermen in and near the Port of Galveston, Texas, was surveyed. The survey included demographic factors and broadly covered areas such as type of work and fishing activities, general or global perceptions and beliefs related to safety and accidents, self-report of ability to use safety equipment or apply procedures aboard vessel, and training considerations. Surveys were obtained following informed consent (n = 133). Of the participants, 96.7% were male with 60.9% ≥40 years old. A majority were of Asian descent (57.1% of all fishermen, 82.1% of shrimp fishermen). Over half claimed to speak little or no English and nearly 60% considered the job to be very safe to neutral. A third to half of respondents expressed doubt about their knowledge of using essential safety equipment in the event of emergency. A large portion of the participants preferred hands-on safety training (40.6%). Important findings about this group of commercial fishermen will help with future development of effective prevention practices through the delivery of culturally appropriate safety awareness training. One element that must be addressed in training programs is to increase the awareness among fishermen about the severe occupational risks inherent in this type of work. Community trust and collaborative partnerships are essential to the success of such initiatives.

Cultural Influences on Safety and Health Education Among Vietnamese Fishermen

ABSTRACT Every ethnic group has its own cultural background and history that influences how it views health behaviors. By virtue of their work history, many Vietnamese have pursued the fishing industry when migrating to the United States. Even though the fishing trades are among the most dangerous jobs in the world, there has been little attention in the literature to the significant role that culture plays in the expression and experience of occupational health practices among Vietnamese shrimp fishermen. Three focus group sessions were conducted to identify factors that hinder or facilitate receptivity to available training and to guide culturally appropriate content. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling among various Vietnamese shrimp fishermen communities in Texas. Utilizing a series of open-ended questions, sessions were conducted in their native language among owners/captains/deckhands; support infrastructure—adult family members and religious/community leaders; and industry management and insurance representatives. Translations of transcribed documents were compared with simultaneous translations to ensure thematic consistency. Conducting hands-on training among Vietnamese by experienced fishermen, specifically targeting captains, was considered key to safety culture on the vessels. Findings of the study support that training should occur in a variety of formats (hands-on), but should be periodic, current, practical, convenient, taught in the primary language of the audience by an experienced individual, culminate in a certificate of completion, and target captains first. These findings illustrate the importance of considering cultural factors in the design of workplace interventions that focus on changes in safety and occupational health behaviors.

Marketing Locally Harvested Shrimp to South Carolina Coastal Visitors: The Development of a Culinary Tourism Supply Chain

ABSTRACT This exploratory research investigated the connection between sales of shrimp at dockside retail establishments or by shrimp fishermen direct to the consumer, as well as the development of an effective culinary tourism supply chain for shrimp. Data from the South Carolina Coastal Tourism Survey (2004) were examined and the connection between wild, locally caught shrimp and tourism in South Carolina was investigated. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the influence of 28 shrimp attributes on five different shrimp-tourism distribution options and revealed that four different combinations of shrimp attributes significantly influenced the food supply chain scenarios.

Technical efficiency of shrimp fishery in South Carolina, USA

The increased inflow of imported shrimp into the US has lowered shrimp prices in the marketplace and with it, ex-vessel prices received by shrimp fishermen. Proposed remedies are aimed at strategies to increase the prices received by domestic producers. This study looks into issues related to the production side by estimating the technical efficiency of South Carolina shrimp boat operators. Estimates using a stochastic production frontier method show that average efficiency is 46%. This finding has strong implications on the long-term survival and viability of the local shrimp industry as it continues to face competition from low-priced imports.

Estimation of Financial Losses to Alabama's Seafood Industry Due to Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina impacted the coastal areas in the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, U.S.A. on 29 August 2005. This study estimated economic loss to Alabama's seafood industry from Katrina's devastation. For loss estimation, the Alabama seafood industry was divided into four categories: dealers and processors, shrimp fishermen, other fishermen, and charter boat owners and/or operators. Estimated losses were calculated separately for damages to boats and facilities (excluding insurance coverage), beached vessels, lost inventories, wages and invoices unpaid, and lost revenues from past and future lost sales. Loss estimation was based on broad guidelines suggested by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences for impact estimation from natural disasters and the U.S. OMB Circular A-94. Losses to Alabama's seafood industry were estimated at $122.25 million with a possible additional loss of $61.1 million due to defaulted loans.

Bycatch Reduction Impacts on the Shrimp Harvesting and Consumer Sectors in the Gulf of Mexico

The economic costs of the policy requiring bycatch reduction devices (BRD) on the shrimp harvesting sector and consumer sectors in the Gulf of Mexico were analyzed using simulation modeling. Three survival rates of shrimp that escape from the fisheye BRD (Penaeus duorarum P aztecus, and P setiferus) were used. As the survival rate of shrimp lost through the fisheye BRD decreased, gulfwide losses, in terms of changes in producer and consumer surplus from the base simulation, increased significantly. The most likely scenarios that represent the Gulf shrimp fishery are survival rates of 50% and 0%. Under 50% and 0% survival of shrimp that escape, the impact of BRDs in the Gulf of Mexico in terms of total economic losses to society ranges from $44.9 million to $65.7 million. The simulation shows that BRD policy has a negative impact on shrimp fishermen with 35-year present value rent ranging from US$11.5 million to $15.2 million.

Occupational stressors, social support, and perceived stress among shrimp fishermen of the Northern Gulf of Mexico coast

A set of hypotheses concerning the occupational stress process was tested for a sample of shrimp fishermen (n=211) and a comparison group of land‐based workers (n = 99) from a coastal community in Alabama. As hypothesized, shrimp fishermen were exposed to greater numbers of occupational stressors, experience greater amounts of stress, and benefit from greater amounts of social support than land‐based workers. In contrast to expectations based in both theory and previous research, social support had no direct or indirect effect on stress experienced by shrimpers. An explanation is offered emphasizing the conflicts generated by work that is frequently performed at sites remote in both place and time from the potential support of home life.

Independence and Collective Action: Reconsidering Union Activity among Commercial Fishermen in Mississippi

Recent articles published in this journal by Pollnac and Poggie (1991) and Durrenberger (1992) have presented contrasting views on commercial fishermen's independence and inclination to act collectively. The respective claims of the two articles are evaluated in the context of recent social scientific theory and research on unionism and the labor movement. Further, historical evidence of collective organizing, including documentary records and contemporary oral testimony by participants, is analyzed for the case of Mississippi Gulf Coast fishermen for the period from 1903 to the present. In contrast to Durrenberger's argument, we show that the successful union activity of the 1930s by the Gulf Coast Shrimpers and Oystermen Association occurred when shrimp fishermen were still economically dependent on processors. Additionally, we contend that the demise of the strong union in Mississippi during the 1950s and 1960s cannot be explained merely by reference to Federal court decisions of that period, but, in a...

Avoidance Strategies and Governmental Rigidity: The Case of the Small-Scale Shrimp Fishery in two Mexican Communities

This paper presents an analysis of avoidance strategies developed by small-scale shrimp fishermen in response to externally imposed regulations that limit their access to marine resources. The main issue that will be explored is whether fishermen act as individuals who calculate costs and benefits associated with noncompliance; or as community members who break the rules in order to serve collective interests within the communities.Key words: marine resources / enforcement avoidance strategies/ small-scale fishermen / shrimp / methodological individualism / collective behavior / fishery management.

Job stress, social support and health amongst shrimp fishermen

Abstract Samples of shrimp fishermen (n = 211) and land-based workers (n = 99) drawn from a US Gulf Coast community are compared with regard to their degree of exposure to occupational stressors, level of social support, and extent of non-clinical depression and somatization. As hypothesized, shrimp fishermen report significantly greater levels of stressor exposure, support, depression and somatization at the zero-order level. At the multivariate level, with several covariates controlled, shrimpers report greater levels of stressor exposure, support and somatization. A model of the stress process which hypothesizes positive effects of stressors, and direct and indirect negative effects of social support on distress, is evaluated for each group. Occupational stressors predict as hypothesized, but social support does not. An explanation is offered which emphasizes the migratory character of shrimping as an occupation.

Peasant fishermen and capitalists: development in Senegal

This article aims to show, on the basis of a micro‐level case study, the nature of the relations that exist between peasants, notably those in the Balante village of Birkama in Casamance in South Senegal on the one hand, and capitalism and the state on the other. I shall take as my basis a subsidiary activity: shrimp fishing, dominated as it is by French companies. Against the background of conflicts, including strike action, that arose in 1975 in the shrimp fishing industry in Casamance, an analysis will be given of the complex and constantly shifting relations between the diverse groupings: peasants and fishermen, industry, middlemen and government officials. Attention will also be paid to the question why the ostensibly weakest grouping, the shrimp fishermen, eventually succeeded in settling the conflict in their favour.

Equipment for Facilitating Movement on an Intertidal Mud-flat

IT is probable that the lack of literature relating to intertidal mud ecology as compared with other intertidal habitats is due, in part, to the restrictions placed on movement by the softness of the substratum. Yonge1 reported that at Stolford, Bridgewater Bay, the shrimp fishermen, whose nets were secured on soft banks of mud, used a type of sledge or ‘mud-horse’, which they pushed in front of them. The sledge served the double purpose of preventing them from sinking deeply into the mud and of carrying back the catch. Barnett (personal communication) used mud shoes of his own design to aid movement.