The Need: to help restore a significant Gulf of Mexico fishery as part of the U.S. Seafood industry

The hurricanes devastated and were hugely destructive to the infrastructure that supported this vital segment of America's domestic fishing industry:

Four of the nation's largest fishing ports were completely demolished;
Hundreds of communities were devastated;
Tens of thousands of fishermen and their families were left without a means of support;
90-100% of the commercial docking facilities, repair shops, ice houses: and offloading facilities, net makers, and local seafood markets in eastern Louisiana, and Mississippi were destroyed.

June 2006 photo of Cameron Parish waterfront photo by Ewell Smith

Now a year later, the vast majority of these seafood community facilities remain closed, including most seafood processing facilities. There is a perception that these problems have been resolved. But it's simply not true. In fact, very little has been done to assist the region's seafood industry. These Americans aren't looking for full recovery at someone else's expense; they are simply hard-working people who want to go back to work … so they can help themselves recover.

DONATE TODAY

AFIRM is seeking your donation today, to be applied directly to our effort to acquire and configure six more icemaking capability for the Gulf fishing fleets.

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