‘Tariffs not enough’ to save U.S. shrimping industry
Alan Gibson, president of Tideland Seafood, summed up the frustration at a recent Louisiana Shrimp Task Force hearing in Houma. “Tariffs aren’t enough,” Gibson said. “The decrease in import prices is because of oversupply. They’re competing against each other to sell market share, and we’re fighting them, who are fighting each other.” Gibson called for a 25% import quota, saying it could reduce foreign competition enough to restore balance to the market. David Chauvin, a Louisiana-based seafood company owner, highlighted the disparity. Unlike tariffs, quotas directly limit the volume of imports, addressing the core issue of oversupply. By restricting imports, a quota could help stabilize domestic shrimp prices, allowing U.S. producers to compete more effectively. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:58
The shrimpers of Georgia are a dwindling group of hard working, brilliant seamen. Their knowledge of the coastal waters, indigenous species of marsh life and memorized seabeds along with how to tear apart and put back together a diesel motor rivals the most talented researcher at MIT. A fisherman creates the seafood industry, and a fisherman creates the imported seafood business. A Georgia shrimper created the device known as TED (turtle excluder device) and a group of shrimpers went up against 4 countries to demand the International Trade Commission comply with trade laws that importers were clearly violating for 15 yrs. And shrimpers had to fight processors and other “spokesmen” to be heard. This enough. American industries should not have to fight their own government or other “American” seafood processors and wanna be politician groups, to sell their product to the public for a price that people can afford and shrimpers can make a decent, not poverty level, living with the middlemen making millions while our boats are strung together with putty and glue. 25% import tariffs are the answer. India charges 100% and other countries charge exorbitant tariffs for U.S. products to come in their country, it is right and just for the U.S. to charge tariffs that protect American businesses. We are not the welfare of the world because that has taken us into poverty.