WCBC

May 3rd, 2018 by WCBC Radio

Nearly half of the crab houses in Maryland have no workers to pick crab meat after their mostly Mexican workers failed to get visas.

The Baltimore Sun reports the Trump administration for the first time awarded the visas in a lottery this year, instead of the usual first-come, first-served basis. The shortage hits just as crab season begins. Crab processors say it may cause the price of picked meat to spike while lowering steamed crab prices.

The Sun reports visa shortages are a regular industry issue, but crab house owners say this is the worst they've faced. Bill Seiling is director of the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association. He says Maryland's 20 licensed crab processors typically employ about 500 foreign workers each season through the H-2B visa program, which is for seasonal workers in non-agricultural jobs. He says about 200 of those visa applications were denied.