On the heels of a plea from the Eastern Shore’s crabbing industry, the federal government has released more temporary foreign worker visas.
Watermen, crab processing companies and seafood sellers all sounded the alarm when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s limit of 66,000 H-2B visas fell drastically short of fufilling the labor needs of the Bay’s crab season (Maryland’s 20 licensed crab-picking houses need about 500 seasonal workers).
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan had also urged the feds to allow more visas through the H-2B Nonimmigrant Temporary Worker Program–saying his state’s $355 million seafood industry and supply chain were at risk.
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