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October 15-16, 2021
2021 Southern Foodways Symposium
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the SFA
October 15-16, 2021
2021 Southern Foodways Symposium

Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to annemarie@southernfoodways.org.

< Back to Oral History project: Sustainable South Louisiana

ORAL HISTORY

Lance Nacio

Anna Marie Shrimp

Lance Nacio, born in 1971, grew up in Lafourche and Terrebone Parishes, mainly at a trapping camp, accessible only by boat, on Grand Bayou Blue. There, isolated, the Nacio family lived off the land: fishing, hunting, gardening, and trapping fur-bearing animals to sell. In 1997, Lance became a full-time commercial fisherman, shrimping mainly. After a few good years, he watched the market price of shrimp drop dramatically around 2001, when imports, often pumped full of antibiotics, skyrocketed.

Lance stuck with shrimping, working to educate the public and fellow fishermen about the virtues of domestically farmed shrimp. He has outfitted his boats with devices that lessened his environmental impact, like skimmers and turtle-excluder devices. He’s established a market selling bycatch, traditionally unwanted fish like conger eel, lion fish, and almaco jack, to New Orleans restaurants excited to experiment with new species. Through these steps and others, Lance Nacio has become a leading advocate for Gulf sustainability.

Date of interview:
2020-02-04

Interviewer:
Rien Fertel

Photographer:

Download Transcript

“

“Because of imports, because of exploitation, a lot of these fishermen . . . moved into oil and gas, they moved into something where they made more money. . . . Most fishermen, they’re not just fishermen anymore. . . . I feel like I speak for a lot of fishermen who don’t want to get up and speak.” - Lance Nacio

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