WASHINGTON — Maryland’s understaffed seafood industry could be getting a shot in the arm in the coming weeks as the federal government is expected to approve 15,000 additional visas nationwide for temporary seasonal workers.
However, after that happens, short-handed crab plants will likely still need more employees.
“It’s not the amount that’s going to be required to fill all the jobs where it was requested, but it’ll certainly help,” said Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md. “We need to get this program moving and get these additional visas issued as soon as possible.”
About 40 percent of the seafood processing plants on Maryland’s Eastern Shore currently do not have enough workers to pick crab meat.
“It’s driving prices up,” said Aubrey Vincent, vice president of Lindy’s Seafood, a wholesaler of Maryland crabs and crab meat, about the shortage of workers. “Essentially what’s going to happen is, crabbers aren’t going to have a good market for their product.”
Most of the companies use employees who are in the U.S. through the H-2B visa program, which allows employers to bring foreign nationals to the country to fill temporary nonagricultural jobs. Maryland has 20 licensed crab processors. Those companies employ about 500 foreign workers each crab season from April to November.
There are fewer visas to go around this year due to a change in how the federal government awarded them.
Citing unprecedented demand, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services distributed the visas through a lottery system instead of on a first-come, first-served basis.
The agency said it received 2,700 petitions requesting 47,000 workers across all industries, “which is more than the number of H-2B visas available.”
Noting the seasonal and labor-intensive nature of Maryland’s $55 million crab industry, Vincent said it is virtually impossible to find enough employees locally.
“Even though we’ve worked on recruiting American workers, we haven’t had much success,” she said.
According to Harris, federal lawmakers will need to make changes to ensure that this kind of work shortage does not reoccur.
“It’s going to be up to congress to adjust the program, make it work for next year, make it work better and make sure our demands are met,” he said.
