{"id":24120,"date":"2020-03-02T10:00:50","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T15:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=24120"},"modified":"2020-02-28T16:53:45","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T21:53:45","slug":"survey-shows-impact-of-h-2b-visa-program-on-maryland-seafood-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2020\/03\/02\/survey-shows-impact-of-h-2b-visa-program-on-maryland-seafood-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Survey Shows Impact of H-2B Visa Program on Maryland Seafood Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crab Processors Emphasize Need for Reliable Access to Seasonal Workers<\/i><\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"H-2B<\/a>

Photo credit: Edwin Remsberg<\/p><\/div>\n

ANNAPOLIS, MD\u2014<\/b>Maryland\u2019s Best Seafood, a marketing program within the Maryland Department of Agriculture, today released a survey measuring the economic impact of the state\u2019s crab industry and the importance of the federal H-2B temporary visa program. Secretary Joe Bartenfelder joined the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industry Association at an event on Hoopers Island to discuss the results of the survey and the critical role the seafood industry plays in many Maryland communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBlue crabs are an integral part of our state\u2019s heritage and our economy,\u201d said Secretary Bartenfelder. \u201cThe world-class crabmeat produced by Maryland processors relies heavily on the availability of seasonal labor via the H-2B visa program. This survey reinforces what we have learned in previous years: a lack of reliable access to H-2B workers poses a major threat to the future of this iconic industry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Maryland\u2019s Best Seafood contracted Market Solutions, LLC, to survey the state\u2019s eight largest crab processors to determine the industry\u2019s economic impact and how it is affected by the availability of H-2B workers. <\/span>All eight crab processors surveyed agreed that the current lottery system for awarding temporary visa requests creates uncertainty that hurts their businesses, and that limiting the number of available H-2B visas hurts Maryland\u2019s seafood industry as a whole.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Seven of the eight crab companies indicated that they would not open for the 2020 crab season without adequate H-2B workers. The shuttering of these processors would severely impact the supply of \u201cTrue Blue\u201d Maryland crabmeat, as well as the livelihoods of American workers who rely on the industry for employment, including commercial watermen, restaurants, and local businesses. Without these seasonal workers, the survey shows that income for watermen would drop by $12.5 million; processors would lose $37-$49 million in sales; Maryland would lose 914-1,367 jobs; and the overall hit to the state\u2019s economy could be $100-$150 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019, the survey participants bought more than 14 million pounds of crabs from 416 local watermen at a value of $19 million, and directly employed 123 American workers. These businesses supplied crabmeat to 243 restaurants, 94 food service distributors, 182 retailers, and 2,300 consumers directly, for a combined $36.7 million in total sales.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The full report, \u201cImpacts of the H-2B Visa Program for Seasonal Workers on Maryland\u2019s Seafood Industry and Economy,\u201d is available on the department\u2019s website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWithout these temporary workers, and without an end to the arbitrary lottery system, local seafood processors will be unable to open for business or be forced to significantly reduce their operations,\u201d said Governor Larry Hogan in a <\/span>January 21 letter<\/span><\/a> to federal officials requesting an increase in H-2B visas in support of the industry. \u201cAnother year of hardship could permanently damage Maryland\u2019s sustainable seafood industry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The H-2B visa program is capped at 66,000 visas per year, though the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is authorized to release up to 64,716 additional visas at the secretary\u2019s discretion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After a shortage of H-2B visas in 2018, Maryland\u2019s Best Seafood partnered with Maryland Public Television to produce \u201cMaryland Crabs: Tradition & Taste.\u201d The film is available <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Follow Maryland’s Best Seafood on Twitter @MDsBestSeafood<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crab Processors Emphasize Need for Reliable Access to Seasonal Workers ANNAPOLIS, MD\u2014Maryland\u2019s Best Seafood, a marketing program within the Maryland Department of Agriculture, today released a survey measuring the economic impact of the state\u2019s crab industry and the importance of the federal H-2B temporary visa program. Secretary Joe Bartenfelder joined the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industry  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24120"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24123,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24120\/revisions\/24123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}