Why the shellfish industry is struggling to hire and retain workers

theguardian.com:

Shellfish farmers like Ramiro Cordero, who works for Taylor Shellfish Farms in Bay Center, Washington, are used to being in uncomfortable positions and places. Farmers kneel in the sand, elbow-deep in muck, to pluck oysters from the water. They hack away at mudflats to extract clams. They blow high-pressure hoses into the ground to uproot geoducks that can be as long as their arms, sometimes their torsos.

The job would be difficult anywhere, but it’s particularly taxing in Washington. Here, wintertime low tides – when shellfish are harvested – occur in the middle of the night. This means that farmers like Cordero are out at midnight, in the freezing cold, in January.

Like many of the 600-plus workers at Taylor, the nation’s largest producer of farmed shellfish, Cordero started when he was young. The physicality of the job is part of why the company’s workforce leans youthful. But there’s also the appeal of working outdoors, in scenic coastal Washington, and for an industry known for its sustainability. Solid, if unspectacular, pay has been a pull, too: even entry-level jobs can reach far above minimum wage.

It used to be that the company could fill a job opening within a few weeks. Now, amid a remarkably tight labor market, that process can take four months. Taylor is struggling to find technicians to grow oyster larvae, as well as farmers like Cordero. Last summer, the company’s workforce was a third slimmer than it was four years ago.

Part of that is Covid-19. Taylor slashed its workforce when demand for shellfish fell. When it tried to re-hire workers, many didn’t come back: they left industry, or the region, or the workforce entirely. Shellfish farming, which has never appealed to everyone, now seems even less