Belize's shrimp farming industry is rebounding from some tough years, with entire farms wiped out by disease. Aquaculture interests have had to adapt entirely new methods of raising shrimp.
And one of the biggest, most heavily capitalized shrimp farms, Belize Aquaculture Limited on the Placencia road has had it the toughest. Industry insiders tell us that their transition to new techniques is going to be more complicated and expensive there than at other farms. One month ago, BAL told the Shrimp Growers Association that it would have to restructure and refine the technology to manage disease incidents.
And that's why it was not entirely surprising to hear today that BAL has laid off 100 employees. It's terrible news for the employees but BAL says it hopes to re-employ them once operations return to normal.
Now, the last time BAL had layoffs, it caused a huge public controversy - so this time it looks like they enlisted the support of Ministry of Labour, up front. The Ministry sent out a release today saying they've been informed of BAL's intention to make redundant approximately one hundred employees today.
The release adds, quote, "the reason for downsizing is due to the incurring of significant costs in the fight against a disease outbreak that is affecting the entire shrimp industry….The Ministry of Labour is currently working closely with the management of the company and the affected employees, to ensure that the legal requirements under (labour law)…are complied with, and most importantly that the wages and terminal benefits due to all employees by law are paid. The Labour Department encourages all affected employees to visit the nearest Labour Office in order to verify their payments." End quote.
And so while the situation at BAL is dire, overall, the industry is not doing badly. The association reports that presently all of the farms are stocking and employing production technologies designed to eliminate disease.
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