Tag Archives: David Chauvin
‘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
‘Another punch in the gut’: Gulf Coast shrimpers navigate the coronavirus crisis
Shrimping is a hard business. Gulf Coast shrimpers, who bring in three quarters of the nation’s catch, have been battered with waves of bad luck. Hurricanes. A flood of cheap imports. The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Fresh water diversions that kill seafood. And now the coronavirus. Restaurants buy 80% of both imported and domestic shrimp, according to the Southern Shrimp Alliance. With restaurants closed or offering only takeout, no one is buying much shrimp. Next month would typically launch the peak of shrimp season as Gulf states begin their annual opening of nearshore waters to shrimping. >click to read< 07:45
Gulf fishermen applaud seafood labeling law
A new regulatory program that will go into effect next year would require seafood to be labeled with its country of origin. Although some are worried about how the labeling might negatively affect the seafood industry as a whole, local fishermen and processors are seeing it as a boon. Opponents of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program, chief among them being the National Fisheries Institute that recently lost its lawsuit to stop the Jan. 1 implementation, say that the labeling for wild caught and farm-grown seafood could cost the industry millions of dollars. David Chauvin, owner of David Chauvin’s Seafood Co. in Dulac, said he believes the new regulations will help level the playing field for local fishermen and help the flagging seafood industry in the Gulf of Mexico. click here to read the story 13:15
Louisiana Shrimp Fishermen Face New Challenges – White Spot Disease
The experience is not universal within the nation’s eight shrimp-producing states, nor even within Louisiana. That’s why some shrimpers suspect that undiagnosed trouble may lurk within the local fishery itself. At the tail end of this year’s crawfish season, white spot disease was detected in Louisiana ponds. It’s not too far a jump, some in the industry, to suspect contamination with the virus as a cause for decline. “Is it the same strain that is in the Asian shrimp that gets imported here?” said Acy Cooper, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association.,,, Jeffrey Marx, the chief shrimp biologist at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, is skeptical.,,, Fishermen want more research to be done, and some precautions to be taken, however. click here to read the story for links about White Spot here and Australia click here 08:34
