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The ECSGA Blog
I sat down to post this and can’t help but cringe at the irony. I made the last post on the 8th and selected the image of an arm in a sling to illustrate employee insurance… and the following morning in the predawn darkness, I was heading out for an early flight to New Bern, NC when I slipped on a patch of ice and broke my elbow, so now…
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Friends, If you are paying for insurance coverage for your employees, chances are you are paying too much. In some states it can be as much as three times what you would pay if you could cover your employees under your state’s workers compensation insurance. Some recent court decisions have ruled that if you spend 30% of your time on the water or unloading boats, you are considered a “seaman”…
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I just returned from an epic week in DC where 17 ECSGA members teamed up with a dozen growers from the PCSGA to educate our elected representatives about our priorities. Combined we hit nearly 100 congressional offices and agencies, carrying an optimistic message of increasing production, sustainable seafood, and jobs and economic development in rural coastal towns across the country. This was our 13th year doing this important work, and…
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A dozen growers are heading to DC to educate our elected lawmakers and agency heads about the issues that we face in our community. This year we have hired a lobbyist to help us and we are hopeful that we can push through a couple of bills that should really help growers. Our top priority is an exemption to the Jones Act for aquaculture workers. If we get this passed…
Read MoreI am really looking forward to the launch of our new website. Months in the making, I have high hopes that our new site will improve access for mobile devices while continuing to deliver timely information to our members and the public. New growers can find great advice like my Rookie Mistakes presentation or my marketing presentation. more established growers my want to brush up on Vibrio issues or implement…
Read MoreI was invited to come down and give a talk at Oyster South in Charleston. This event is growing by leaps and bounds! Some 130 growers, 40 chefs, wholesalers and service providers we joined by several dozen extension agents and regulators from Texas to North Carolina. The excitement was palpable. As each of these states works to clear their regulatory hurdles, we are seeing eager entrepreneurs establishing farms and ready…
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