Today we’d like to introduce you to Buddy Guindon.
Buddy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I got myself hooked on fishing when I was 15 years old. I started fishing with my father and realized immediately that I loved it. I loved being out on the water – the freedom it gave me and the connection I could make with my dad. And as a commercial fisherman, I realized I could do what I loved and sell the fish afterwards and make money to support my fishing habit. After the Marine Corps, I moved to Galveston in 1978 and started building my commercial fishing business. I bought a couple boats and a couple permits in the mid-1990s, and then bought my fish house in 1996 which I named after my wife (Katie’s Seafood Market). I fished hard during the 1990s and 2000s, reinvesting all my money in my business. Now I have a very successful family business that I can pass onto my sons and their families.
When it comes down to it, I saw an opportunity in the seafood business to build something that I could pass on to my children. But I wanted it to be more than just a building where people could come to buy fish. It is the experience, the story that means so much to me. It’s about the commercial fishermen that sail the Gulf of Mexico harvesting fish. It’s about the managers that set regulations. It’s about the seafood supply chain jobs that transport fish from Galveston to Houston, or Denver, or Chicago.
It’s about conservation, sustainability, accountability. It’s about one of the last wild harvests in the country at a time when consumers want to know more about what they’re eating. But most of all it’s about family – it’s about being able to work with my sons, my wife, and my brother. It’s about loving what you do and the people you work with.
When I’m not managing my fish house or my fishing boats, I’m doing everything I can to make sure the future of our fisheries are sustainable and profitable. I’m mentoring young fishermen and helping them find the quota they need to go fishing. I’m going to meetings and walking the halls of Congress educating decision-makers about the importance of sustainability in the fishing and seafood worlds. I’m helping half dozen organizations protect the Gulf’s seafood and fishing access for the future. I work with a great team of family, friends, and colleagues and together we’re doing what’s right for the Gulf and the seafood consuming public who depend on us.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
When you’ve been doing this for as long as I have, you’re bound to hit some bumps in the road. But that hasn’t stopped me from doing what’s right for the fish, the fishermen, and the American seafood consuming public. It has only made me stronger and more resolved to make sure my kids have a better future.
Fisheries management and politics don’t mix, but unfortunately we’re living in a world now where misinformation from groups like the Coastal Conservation Association and federal bureaucrats are driving agendas that are going to impact the conservation measures I’ve worked so hard to get in place. Take red snapper for instance. We caught way too many of them in the 1990s and drove the population down. Once we realized this, we all agreed that we needed to take the medicine and rebuild this fish population before we wiped it out completely. Now, thanks to the sacrifices made by commercial fishermen, we’re seeing more red snapper in the Gulf than we’ve ever seen before. And not just here – everywhere in the Gulf. Fishermen in Florida are seeing red snapper like they’ve never seen before. The fishing is great. When I first started commercial fishing, we were only allowed to fish the first ten days of the month. Now we can provide consumers with red snapper 365 days a year, every year. We have a very strong science-based fishery law (the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act) that is helping rebuild red snapper. But this law, and the commercial fishermen who support this law, are under attack by individuals and organizations that want to relax these conservation measures and create loopholes and exemptions. So I find myself going to meetings and talking to politicians about why it’s important to keep conserving and protecting red snapper even though things look really good right now. We just can’t take our foot off the gas just yet. I want to make sure my kids can keep fishing on a healthy red snapper population, not one that looks like it did in the 1990s when we had a hard time finding enough red snapper to make a living.
I would also say that it is challenging to wear as many hats as I do. I run seven commercial fishing boats, a fish house, I’m the President of the Pier 19 Mosquito Fleet (an organization of commercial shrimp boats), I’m the Executive Director of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, I’m the Treasurer of Gulf Wild, I’m on the Boards of the Gulf Seafood Institute and the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, and I’m an advisor to the Charter Fisherman’s Association. And when I’m not doing all these things, I’m focusing on my real job – being a good husband, brother, father, father-in-law and grandfather.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Katie’s Seafood Market story. Tell us more about the business.
Katie’s Seafood Market is one of the top fish houses in the Gulf of Mexico, handling over 5 million pounds of seafood annually in our fish house. We employ over 25 people onboard our fishing vessels as well as 25 staff at the fish house, including my wife, four sons and my brother.
People come to Katie’s to see a real working waterfront in action – fishermen are offloading their catch, fish are being filleted and cleaned, and boats are coming and going almost continuously. They get the opportunity to see where their food comes from, and to meet the people that make it possible for them to enjoy the benefits of sustainable fisheries. The fish and shellfish we harvest from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico belong to them – the public – and we are fortunate to have the privilege of connecting people with their food.
Katie’s Seafood is the only fish house west of the Mississippi River that sells Gulf Wild (www.mygulfwild.com) fish. Gulf Wild is the nation’s only fully traceable seafood program that is built upon a series of conservation covenants and utilizes unique tags to track fish from the boat to the plate. I helped start the Gulf Wild program back in 2010 when the BP disaster cast a shadow over Gulf of Mexico seafood. We wanted consumers to know that the snapper, grouper, and tilefish they were buying was safe to eat, and was caught by fishermen who cared deeply about conservation and sustainability.
Now, consumers in Galveston, Houston, Denver, Chicago and dozens of other places can order Gulf Wild at a restaurant or buy it in a fish market, and actually get a fish tag with their dinner that we put in the fish when it came off the boat here in Galveston.
You enter the ID number or scan the QR code into our website and you can see the actual path that fish took from the boat it was caught on, through Katie’s Seafood, and direct to the restaurant you’re sitting at. Now, over 3 million pounds of Gulf seafood pass through Gulf Wild every year. So when you buy Gulf Wild fish, you know that you’re part of the program that’s setting the bar for seafood traceability in the U.S.
Katie’s Seafood Market and Gulf Wild need healthy fish populations to thrive. That’s why it’s so important these days for fishermen to be involved in the fishery management process and work with regulators to protect fishing businesses and the fish we rely on.
The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance (http://www.shareholdersalliance.org/)is at the forefront of advocacy and education in the region, and as a founding member and current Executive Director, I make it my duty to ensure that fishermen have a voice through the Shareholders’ Alliance.
The Shareholders’ Alliance is the largest organization of commercial snapper and grouper fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico. Our members work hard to ensure that our fisheries are sustainably managed so our fishing businesses can thrive and our fishing communities can exist for future generations. We are the harvesters that provide much of the American public with a reliable source of domestically-caught wild Gulf seafood, and we do this through a philosophy that sustainable seafood and profitable fishing businesses depend on healthy fish populations.
Between Katie’s Seafood Market, Gulf Wild, and the Shareholders’ Alliance, it really takes an expert team to make sure that fish, fishermen, fish houses and American seafood consumers all come together in a precision manner to ensure that we can enjoy the Gulf’s bounty for generations to come.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I’m fortunate to have a strong and supportive family and circle of friends that have supported me my whole life. Everything else I chalk up to hard work and determination.
Contact Info:
- Address: Katie’s Seafood Market
1902 Wharf Road,
Galveston, TX 77550 - Website: www.katiesseafoodmarket.com
- Phone: (409) 763-8160
- Email: katies.seafood@sbcglobal.net
- Instagram: katiesseafoodmarket
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/katiesseafoodmarket/
- Twitter: @KatiesSeafood
- Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/katies-seafood-market-galveston-2
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