Tag Archives: Gulf Coast shrimpers
Shrimp Police: Can DNA testing put teeth in efforts to save an American fleet?
For most of a year now, it’s been as if some kind of weird seafood brush war is being waged across Southeastern coastal states. In each flare-up, stealthy visitors have conducted DNA testing on seafood – and usually, the revelations are embarrassing. The inquisitors’ pronouncements are bold: “Savannah Shrimp Scandal.” “Gulf Shores Shrimp Deception continues.” “Wilmington and Surrounding Beach Areas Shrimp Scene Tarnished: 77% of Restaurants Mislead Diners.” They’re tailor-made to generate headlines, and they have – along with a few questions about whether the methodology behind the testing is entirely fair. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:32
Federal lawmakers from Mississippi promote legislation imposing stricter testing on foreign shrimp
A pair of federal lawmakers from Mississippi are leading the way in promoting legislation aimed at protecting local seafood producers and protecting American consumers from untested foreign products. U.S. Rep. Mike Ezell (R-Miss.), along with Julia Letlow (R-La.) and Troy Carter (D-La.), have introduced the Safer Shrimp Imports Act, a bipartisan bill seeking to tighten federal inspection standards for imported shrimp. The legislation is a companion to a bill introduced by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) in the Senate. Data shows that north of 90% of shrimp consumed in the U.S. is imported. According to lawmakers, much of this seafood comes from countries with weak food safety standards and inadequate oversight of harmful contaminants such as antibiotics, pesticides, and bacteria. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:50
Shrimpers hope tariffs bring rescue
While American consumers and businesses fret over President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, one struggling group is cheering him on: Gulf coast shrimpers. These shrimpers have been hit hard in recent years by a wave of cheap imported shrimp flooding the US market and dominating restaurant menus. Prices have plummeted, profits have thinned to a razor’s edge, and many local operators are fighting to stay afloat. Tariffs, they hope, might level the playing field. “It’s been tough the last several years that we’ve tried to fight through this,” said Reed Bowers, owner of Bowers Shrimp Farm in Palacios, Texas. Tough times have forced difficult decisions – “cutting people off, laying people off, or reducing hours or wages … whatever we can do to survive,” Bowers said. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:37
Gulf Coast shrimpers say tariffs are a lifeline for their industry
Shrimpers along the Gulf Coast say they need more help from the federal government with cheap shrimp imports from countries like Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam driving down local demand. With reciprocal tariffs on imports from those countries on hold for 90 days, shrimpers are left wondering if they will get a lifeline, they say they desperately need. Some shrimp farmers are ready to push for measures like capping imports at 25%. Rodney Olander with the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force has been coasting the gulf coast waters for shrimp for more than 40 years. Shrimp season is just a month away. But Rodney said the shrimp industry has been suffering for years. Now he’s working with the Trump administration, hoping to save his business. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:34
Gulf Coast shrimpers say bring on Trump’s tariffs: ‘This industry is dying’
It’s been four months since Henry Barnes, the mayor of this struggling fishing village in southern Alabama, wrote to Donald Trump for help. A flood of cheap imported shrimp is killing the local seafood market, he wrote, thanks to “low and non-existent tariffs.” He invited Trump, for whom he voted, to come visit Bayou La Batre, known as Alabama’s Seafood Capital. But thus far he hasn’t heard back. “He’ll eventually get around to us,” said Barnes, a third-generation net-maker. “I mean, we’re just a small town.” In February, Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., sent a letter asking Trump to assist the state’s seafood industry by imposing tariffs of up to 100% on shrimp and crawfish imports. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:39
Shreveport restaurants found misleading diners with imported shrimp
A new report has cast a harsh spotlight on Shreveport’s restaurant scene, revealing that more than half of sampled eateries are misleading customers about the origin of their shrimp. Genetic testing conducted earlier this month found that 58% of the 24 sampled restaurants falsely advertised or implied that their shrimp were wild-caught from the Gulf of Mexico, when in fact they were serving farm-raised imports. The investigation, commissioned by the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force and carried out by SEAD Consulting, uncovered the highest mislabeling rate in the state to date. Six restaurants went a step further, explicitly labeling their dishes as “Gulf shrimp” despite serving foreign-sourced seafood. “This is not just about a menu mistake. This is food fraud,” said John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “Consumers believe they’re supporting local fishermen and eating a premium, domestic product. Instead, they’re being served something entirely different — often at the same price.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:45
Lawmakers push for tighter rules on imported shrimp
A federal lawmaker representing Galveston County has co-sponsored a bill that would increase U.S. Food and Drug Administration testing to ensure imported shrimp meet domestic health and safety standards and fund a federal agency to buy some of the U.S. catch under some circumstances. The bill is meant to weed out tainted shrimp and level the field for U.S. shrimpers and seafood markets that must meet higher quality standards and have been battered by large foreign companies, including shrimp farming operations, able to sell their products in the United States for about half the domestic price. Customers leaving the seafood market agreed. Customer Fredell Rosen said domestic shrimp is the only way to go. “I want my shrimp from here,” Rosen said. “I want my shrimp local. I’m willing to pay more because I know it’s regulated and safe.” >click to read< 16:01
Low fuel prices may have saved Gulf Coast shrimpers
Texas shrimpers had a painfully low amount of shrimp harvested in the Gulf in 2020. It dropped from an annual average of 45-50 million pounds of shrimp to 38 million pounds. Yet in the beginning stages of a new year, there is interesting news about what actually happened. According to Andrea Hance with the Texas Shrimp Association, “We actually ended the year on a fairy positive note and it’s kind of hard to believe,,, video, >click to read< 16:48
‘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
BP Drops drop its bid to avoid paying 1 Billion Seafood Industry Spill Payments
After fighting for more than two years to avoid paying almost $1 billion in oil spill damages to Gulf Coast shrimpers, oystermen and seafood processors it claimed didn’t exist, BP Plc has thrown in the towel. A federal judge in New Orleans Monday allowed BP to drop its bid to avoid paying the second half of $2.3 billion in compensation promised to seafood interests harmed by the blown-out well. The subsea gusher pumped more than 4 million barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, closing fisheries and blackening the shores of five states. BP had paid out about $1 billion of the seafood fund when it balked at paying the remainder after discovering irregularities in one law firm’s client list. The seafood payout is a separate earmark within BP’s Read the rest here 07:23
