Board of Directors

Legend

Fisherman/Boat Owner

Dock/Unloading Facility

Shrimp Processor

Seafood Distributor

Retail Sales/Direct-to-Consumer

Steve Bosarge, President

Bosarge Boats Inc. started as a seafood production company in 1978 and has grown into a dynamic, full service marine enterprise with a diverse fleet of vessels providing services for various offshore and nearshore industries. Founded by third-generation maritime specialist, Steve Bosarge, the company has a fleet of vessels and specializes in relocation of endangered species, fisheries research support, seafood harvesting, oil and gas platform decommissioning and launch services, removal of marine debris, and specialty support services.

Steve has served as the president of the SSA and as a vice chair of the Shrimp Advisory Panel to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.

Cheri Blanchard

Cheri Blanchard has been co-owner of a commercial shrimping business since 1979 when she married third-generation shrimper James Blanchard. Together, they own and operate a 63-foot steel-hull trawler named Waymaker, with Cheri focusing on sales and accounting.

Much of her time is dedicated to serving her community and industry. She retired as an Industry Coordinator for the Louisiana Workforce Commission in 2019 and is a former chair of the Houma Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. A founding member of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, Cheri joined the Board in 2023.

In her free time, Cheri volunteers with the Elks and We the People Bayou, and enjoys time with her nine grandchildren of three children.

Leann Bosarge

Leann Bosarge hails from a long line of commercial fishermen, who over the years have harvested everything from butterfish and red snapper to oysters, crabs and shrimp. She grew up working at the family business, Bosarge Boats Inc., which owns and operates a fleet of trawl vessels that fish the waters of both the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic.

She was the first member of her family to earn a college degree, after which she spent a few years working for a publicly traded financial institution. However, she soon returned to her true love – the commercial fishing industry and the family business.

Prior to joining SSA’s Board in 2023, Leann helped shape the future of our fisheries and ensured their long-term, science-based sustainability through her appointment to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. She was elected and served as Chairman of the Council from 2016 to 2018. She reached her term limit as a voting member of the Council in the summer of 2022.

Lindsey Burroughs, Jr.

Captain Lindsey Burroughs learned to shrimp from his father. Every summer since he was six years old, he would accompany his father out on shrimping trips off the coast of Alabama and lend a hand where he could. When he was old enough, he bought his father’s boat, Becky Lynn, to pursue his own dream of being a captain. Burroughs moved from coastal locations as fish houses closed and gave way to tourism, finding a home in Bayou La Batre. Today, he owns and operates Alexandra Pearl to support his family.

Burroughs served formerly on the Board of the Alabama Shrimp Association before joining the Board of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. His activism is driven by an understanding that unfairly traded shrimp have depressed the prices for shrimp in the United States while other costs of business continue to rise. It is an untenable situation for small family businesses like his own.

Brent Fulcher

Brent Fulcher is a third-generation family member in the seafood industry. He owns ten fishing vessels that are permitted to harvest shrimp, summer flounder, Atlantic sea scallops, monkfish, scup, black sea bass, and more. In addition, he owns two seafood processing facilities: B&J Seafood in New Bern and Beaufort Inlet Seafood in Beaufort. His businesses support and purchase from over 200 independent fishermen along the east coast. Being vertically integrated, Brent is involved in every aspect of the seafood industry—harvesting, purchasing, packing, processing and marketing.

Brent is currently chairman of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, a board member on the Southern Shrimp Alliance, and a member of the Blue Water Fisherman’s Association. He is presently an industry representative on the Federal Sea Scallop Advisory Committee for the New England Management Council and serves on the Finfish Advisory Committee. He previously served as a protected species adviser for the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.

Christine Gala

Christine (“Chris”) Gala’s grandfather, father, brother, and husband made a living by shrimping. She is from a typical multi-generational shrimp family, but Chris owns and manages one of the largest shrimping fleets in the nation. Established in 1977, Trico Shrimp Company owns thirteen offshore trawlers that operate from Fort Myers, Florida during the winter and Freeport, Texas in the summer. The company runs a large unloading facility in Ft. Meyers, Florida that serves its boats and another 20 privately-owned boats. It also provides a retail seafood market on the water at the unloading dock.

Trico Shrimp Company helped organize the Southern Shrimp Alliance and has always provided strong leadership for the shrimp industry. In addition to serving as a director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, Chris sits on the Board of Directors for Texas Shrimp Association. While the price of shrimp is a primary concern for all in the shrimp industry, Chris recognizes that SSA works on a variety of issues that impact the ability to harvest shrimp. “Changes in Coast Guard regulations or state and federal permits and license moratoriums can force shrimpers out of business overnight. It is important that shrimpers participate in SSA so the industry can have a voice in these decisions that affect our businesses,” explains Chris.

Lori Galloway

Lori Galloway has spent 38 years in the commercial fishing industry as part of a fifth-generation, family-owned seafood business. After marrying into the business, she became involved in every part of the operation, working on the shrimp boat and helping run the family fish house. Her two sons are active shrimpers, and her grandson helps out on the boat in the summers. Protecting the future of the industry for the next generation is a driving concern for her.

Lori sees import pressure, along with public misunderstanding of commercial fishing, as some of the biggest threats facing domestic shrimpers today. She hopes to help SSA teach the public about the role fishermen play in coastal communities and the nation’s food supply, while representing North Carolina’s shrimping families.

Ken Garcia, Jr.

In 1952, Edward “Lalo” Garcia Sr. made history as the first Hispanic shrimp boat owner in Matagorda Bay. Early in his venture, his trawler faced violence and was destroyed. Undeterred, Lalo managed to save enough money to buy a second boat within just six months. This unwavering determination to keep shrimping through hard times was a trait he passed down to his children and grandchildren.

The Garcia boats grew to be the largest privately owned fleet in the United States. The family launched Philly Seafood, expanding the business beyond fishing and boat ownership and evolving into a national brand. Today, Philly Seafood not only harvests shrimp from their family-owned boats but also processes, packages, and sells them to retailers and restaurants across the country.

Ken Garcia, Jr. is the third generation to work in the family business.

Lance Nacio

Lance Nacio is a third-generation commercial shrimper and owner of Anna Marie Shrimp, a family-owned operation harvesting, processing, and marketing wild-caught Gulf shrimp and fin fish. A full-time fisherman since 1997, Lance oversees shoreside operations while his son, the vessel’s captain for the past seven years, runs the boat. His partner, Rachel, helps manage the business day to day.

Anna Marie Shrimp uses onboard plate-freezing and responsible harvesting practices to reduce bycatch and produce a high-quality product. For 23 years, the family has sold directly to consumers at farmers markets, now attending three each week, building relationships with customers while educating them on the value of American wild-caught seafood.

Lance serves as a commercial fisherman representative on the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force and has long advocated for truthful seafood labeling and policies supporting domestic shrimpers against rising costs and import competition.

Craig Reaves

Since 1970, the Reaves family has been involved in all aspects of the seafood industry, owning shrimp trawlers, docks, and restaurants. Craig is part of the second generation. He and his wife Jana started C.J. Seafood, a wholesale business delivering fresh seafood all over the state of South Carolina, and operate two retail locations: Sea Eagle Market & Good Eats in Beaufort, SC and C.J. Seafood Express in Port Royal, SC. They also own Sea Eagle Market @ Village Creek, a working waterfront and retail space in St Helena Island. Their children, Melena and C.J., help run the businesses.

Craig created a Community Supported Fishery (CSF) program to connect consumers to local fishermen through a co-op in which members pre-pay for a weekly share of premium, locally caught, seasonal fish, shrimp and/or shellfish. Craig is also an active board member of the SC Seafood Alliance and Southern Shrimp Alliance.

Taylor Tarvin

Captain Taylor Tarvin is an airplane and helicopter pilot, not a shrimper. When he adopted Vasily, “Vasa,” and his two siblings from an orphanage in Russia, Taylor had no idea that it would lead to helping manage a shrimping business. The shift began when a teacher introduced Vasa, a natural athlete and physical learner, to local shrimp icon Wayne Magwood. Vasa spent his summer as a 12-year-old learning from Magwood and returned as a deckhand throughout middle and high school. At Captain Magwood’s suggestion, Taylor and his wife Cindy bought a wooden boat in 2011 for Vasa to run. Soon after, Tarvin Seafood was born to sell Vasa’s catch. Coming from a different background and without the long family history of shrimping, they recognized that the approach Tarvin Seafood took would need to be different. They grew slowly, selling the catch to restaurants instead of peddlers or retail customers, and that market segment remains the bulk of their business.

For the past several seasons, Tarvin Seafood has operated from a dock that allows a small retail presence, and in this era of dwindling and uncertain dockage, they hope to expand the business to help provide an anchor for the remainder of the local fleet. The family is strongly committed to shrimpers working together to sell most of the catch locally, which allows the fishermen and shrimpers to maintain a high value for locally landed fish and shrimp.

“When I look at my son and his friends and I see a new generation of shrimpers full of energy. This industry has a future,” said Taylor. “But, this industry needs to work together to thrive. Through the Southern Shrimp Alliance, we can fight for policies and regulations that support a healthy industry.”

Justin Versaggi

Justin Versaggi is a fourth-generation shrimper whose family has been in the shrimp industry since 1912. Over the past nine years, he has maintained a four-vessel family business spanning harvesting, wholesale distribution, and direct-to-consumer sales in the Gulf.

He is active in fisheries advocacy across the Southeast, serving on the Southeastern Fisheries Association Board and the Shrimp Advisory Panel, and has worked on bycatch reduction and smalltooth sawfish research with LGL Ecological. Justin sees imported shrimp, unfair trade policy, an aging fleet, and the lack of younger fishermen entering the industry as major threats to the domestic shrimp industry’s future, and is committed to fighting for its long-term sustainability.

He and his wife, Elizabeth, are raising three children, Olivia, Dominic, and Giabella, as the next generation of the family’s shrimping tradition.

John Wallace

John Wallace’s grandfather enjoyed crabbing. His father dabbled in fishing. But it wasn’t until John and his brothers started operating shrimp boats in their teens that the family started to make a living off of the ocean. John is a first-generation shrimper and owner of Gale Force, an ice boat. He operates Anchored Shrimp Company, which has packed and distributed locally caught Wild Georgia Shrimp throughout the state for more than 35 years. His company is economically important to the Brunswick, Georgia area, regularly purchasing shrimp from twelve to fifteen boats. At the beginning of 2014, he opened a public seafood market.

Craig Wallis

Shrimping the Texas Gulf has been a way of life for the Wallis family since the spring of 1964. Craig Wallis, a second-generation fisherman, purchased his first boat at the age of 16. Five other vessels followed. In 1979, Craig and his brother formed W & W Dock. The business expanded in 1987 by adding a 55-ton icehouse facility, but after the fleet converted to freezer boats, he shut down the ice plant and continued shrimping. Today, he manages and staffs nine shrimp trawlers for himself and other local owners.

Craig has served on the executive board of the Texas Shrimp Association since 1981. He has been a member of the Southern Shrimp Alliance since it founding and has testified on multiple occasions about the harm caused by dumped shrimp imports before the International Trade Commission.

Jeremy Zirlott

“Commercial fishing is in my blood,” states Jeremy Zirlott. Both sides of his family have harvested Gulf seafood in Alabama for generations. “I started shrimping with my Daddy at age seven aboard the ‘Amanda Di-Ann.”

1997 was a big year for Jeremy. He formed Zirlott Trawlers, Inc.. He bought his first steel hull freezer boat and later that year married Kim. But after that, the market for shrimp changed. Prices dropped. Jeremy and Kim realized they needed a new way to remain profitable.

“Jeremy focused on quality—packing at sea—and I started selling our shrimp,” said Kim Zirlott. “Yet, much is beyond our control. Unneeded regulations increase production costs and subsidized, dumped shrimp imports depress our prices.”

Zachary Wood

Zachary Wood owns and captains the F/V Emma Kristine and runs Sea Island Shrimp Co., a wholesale operation supplying more than 90 restaurants weekly. After 16 years in the chemical industry, he returned to shrimping full-time in 2020, buying his first boat and building a business that has since moved more than 40 restaurants from imported to domestic shrimp.

Wood has been active in Georgia seafood advocacy, helping pass the state’s 2025 seafood labeling law and serving on Georgia’s shrimp advisory panel. He sees fuel costs, workforce shortages, and infrastructure loss as the industry’s biggest challenges, but believes strong consumer demand and effective advocacy can restore its long-term prosperity.

Business Committee

Michael Stephens

Don’t be confused, but Bama Sea Products is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is one of the largest processors and distributors of wild-caught domestic shrimp in the United States, employing 120 individuals in their 100,000 square foot plant and cold storage. Michael Stephens, the CEO, is the third-generation in the shrimp industry. His grandfather owned two shrimp boats in the 1970s. His father, John, ran one of the boats and started the family’s first packing house in Bayou La Batre, Alabama in 1979, hence the company name.

Bama Sea Products is a founding member of SSA and Michael has served on SSA’s Board since 2015. He is passionate about SSA’s involvement in fisheries management issues and is proud of SSA’s role in the sustainability and management of U.S. wild-caught shrimp fishery.