Gov. Bush offers help to Florida shrimp industry

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Kenneth Farguson II was trying to sell his nets Friday to buy food for himself and his wife as Gov. Jeb Bush announced that a series of meetings will be held around Florida this week offering help to struggling and out-of-work shrimpers.

Many are being forced out of business by low-priced foreign competition that has affected the entire U.S. shrimping industry. And there's a double whammy in some areas, such as the Florida Panhandle, as shrimp stocks have dwindled.

"It's been so bad here lately I've sold off everything I've owned," Farguson said. "I don't have anything. I live on my boat."

He said he has sold his car and home and once got some fish and other food for helping unload boxes of shrimp imported from South America. Farguson said he hoped he could get $300 for nets that cost him five times that much. He was offering them for sale to another Pensacola shrimper.

The governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development plans to hold meetings with shrimpers and representatives of various state agencies that can offer help ranging from social and health services to retraining for new jobs.

The imports, mainly from China, Thailand and Vietnam, have forced down the price of U.S-produced shrimp. Prices from 2000 through 2002 have dropped as much as 40 percent.