Americans love shrimp. But U.S. shrimpers are barely making ends meet

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/31/ [login to see] /demand-for-cheap-shrimp-is-driving-u-s-shrimpers-out-of-business
The skiff glides through the harbor as the Catholic priest squirts holy water from a plastic bottle onto the colorful hulls of the shrimp boats just off the southernmost tip of Texas.

"Bless this fleet, their equipment, their crew, their captains," intones the Rev. Jesse Garza of Our Lady, Star of the Sea Catholic Church. "Protect them from the dangers of wind and rain and all the perils of the deep. In the name of the Father, Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen."

The annual blessing of the shrimp fleet is overshadowed this year by the painful reality that half of all the vessels getting a benediction will stay tied up. Shrimp remains America's favorite seafood, yet the rugged livelihood of catching shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico is a dying industry. Gulf shrimpers are facing a perfect storm of expensive diesel fuel, an acute shortage of workers and a flood of cheap imported shrimp.