Florida shrimpers race to get battered fleet back to sea
FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. (AP) The seafood industry in southwest Florida is racing against time and the elements to save whats left of a major shrimping fleet and a lifestyle that was battered by Hurricane Ian.
The storms ferocious wind and powerful surge hurled a couple dozen shrimp boats atop wharves and homes along the harbor on Estero Island. Jesse Clapham, who oversees a dozen trawlers for a large seafood company at Fort Myers Beach, is trying to get boats back to sea as quickly as possible before their engines, winches and pulleys seize up from being out of the water.
One of two shrimpers that didnt sink or get tossed onto land went out Sunday, but the victory was small compared with the task ahead.
Theres 300 people who work for us and all of them are out of a job right now. Im sure theyd rather just mow all this stuff down and build a giant condo here, but were not going to give up, said Clapham, who manages the fishing fleet at Erickson and Jensen Seafood, which he said handles $10 million in shrimp annually.
https://apnews.com/article/hurricanes-florida-storms-business-fort-myers-38d0fb8aaffdb876acd4ab9ef6c18fc0