Crawfish farmers may have received funding from the CARES Act, but wild crawfish fishermen are feeling left out as they will not receive any stimulus money.
Wild crawfish fisherman Jody Meche says he and his peers produce just as much and just as good or better crawfish compared to farmers and there should be no difference in funding.
“We took it on the chin. This pandemic hit right at the peak of our harvest season in the Atchafalaya Basin. We go out ourselves. We are hard-working red-blooded Americans,” said Meche.
Meche says he spends hundreds of dollars a day on bait and fuel to harvest the mudbugs and the relief money would help with the expenses of not being able to sell his catch because restaurants have not been buying.
“You know how much I impact my economy and my parish when I’m buying all that bait and fuel and putting that product on the market by the time the time the consumer eats it or the time it is finally sold? I mean, you could multiply it by three or four times,” said Meche.
Meche says this is the one time where fishermen can get money to spread out over the rest of the year and that conditions were favorable for this to be a big season, adding that this may shut down some in the industry.
“It’s going to devastate a lot of fishermen. Those guys who don’t manage their money well, they are going to be in a bind. You know, the farmers are always getting relief money. Wild fishermen are never get relief money,” said Meche.
Meche says he’s reached out to the congressional delegation about the issue.