Crab crisis: Maryland seafood industry loses 40% of workforce in visa lottery

Re:Crab crisis: Maryland seafood industry loses 40% of workf... by EliRivers on Friday May 04, 2018 @03:16PM (#16997387)

So what happens? I would hypothesize that one possible result is that the price of crabmeat goes up until it becomes economical to ship the crabs overseas for picking, and then shipped back for selling (maybe it already is, and there was just no reason to change the system until now). That's happened in other cases and it's effectively a way to move a factory abroad, with a larger chunk of the money involved also moving abroad. A worse outcome for the local citizen.

Alternatively, I suppose the wages demanded by local citizens could go down enough to be able to compete. I wonder how low that would be.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Crab crisis: Maryland seafood industry loses 40% of workf... by gowld on Friday May 04, 2018 @03:55PM (#16997715)

That may adversely impact quality and desirability of the meat. The costs of transportation will also pay transportation workers.

Also, it depends on the prior competitiveness of the crabmeat market -- was it a sellers' market (prices are already at a maximum) or a buyers' market (prices at a minimum)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Crab crisis: Maryland seafood industry loses 40% of workf... by rlpb on Friday May 04, 2018 @06:19PM (#16998861)

> it becomes economical to ship the crabs overseas for picking, and then shipped back for selling

If their goal here is to stop importing labor, then a government that wants to prevent that outcome could simply impose a tariff on processed crabmeat.

[ Parent | on HN ]