Tag Archives: US Shrimp Industry
Investigating Shrimp Fraud Is an Urgent Matter on the Gulf Coast
Imagine sitting down for a meal at a restaurant with a view of the ocean. You are on vacation, and the restaurant’s décor includes fishnets, pictures of boats and taxidermied exemplars of the local catch. You order a plate of shrimp, reasonably expecting it to have come from nearby waters. Way too often it comes from thousands of miles away, Dave Williams told a small crowd at the Louisiana Shrimp Festival on a summer-hot day in New Orleans last fall. “And that’s despicable,” he said. Mr. Williams is a commercial fisheries scientist who was in New Orleans to shed light on what he considers an epidemic problem: restaurants and festivals misrepresenting imported shrimp as locally caught. In many cases, diners are paying for what they think is more expensive, high-quality wild Gulf shrimp, but is actually an inferior product produced by an aquaculture industry that has a history of labor abuse. A 2020 study by Louisiana State University found two thirds of imported shrimp samples purchased in Baton Rouge contained banned veterinary drugs. Photos,Links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:50
Thousands celebrate local shrimp industry in McIntosh County
Darien celebrated their 57th annual Blessing of the Fleet festival this weekend. Thousands headed to the small town to celebrate the history that the local shrimp industry has in McIntosh County. People WTOC spoke with at this year’s Blessing of the Fleet event said this is the largest crowd they’ve seen in years and everyone’s out here to support local fishermen, the shrimping industry, and wish them luck in their next shrimping season. “Everybody loves the festival, and we’re able to tie in the importance of our commercial fishing industry, particularly our shrimpers, in all the fun,” said Darien-McIntosh Chamber of Commerce, President & CEO, Kat Hoyt. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:29
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
U.S. Shrimp Industry Hails New Tariffs as Crucial Lifeline
In a move aimed at protecting American jobs and ensuring food security, the Trump Administration has announced new tariffs on major shrimp-supplying countries, a decision praised by the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “We’ve watched as multigenerational family businesses tie up their boats, unable to compete with foreign producers who play by a completely different set of rules,” said John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “We are grateful for the Trump Administration’s actions today, which will preserve American jobs, food security, and our commitment to ethical production.“ Unfair trade policies that disadvantage American shrimpers include billions of dollars in subsidies from international financial institutions to develop foreign shrimp aquaculture, along with widespread use of forced labor, banned antibiotics, and environmental destruction that reduce the cost of shrimp production in major supplying countries. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:39
Shrimp bill hits rough waves in Georgia Senate
With little more than a week remaining in this year’s meeting of the Georgia General Assembly, a bill to help protect the livelihoods of Coastal Georgia shrimpers from the deluge of imported foreign shrimp has run into uncertain waters. The culprit, says Coastal Georgia shrimp advocate John Wallace, is the restaurant industry. The measure, introduced in January by Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah) and co-sponsored by Al Williams (D-Midway), Rick Townsend (R-Brunswick), Buddy DeLoach (R-Townsend), and Lehman Franklin (R-Statesboro), would require restaurants and other food service establishments to inform customers of the origin of their shrimp and other seafood. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:51
How the Alabama Seafood Labeling Law is affecting Gulf Coast industry
Almost a year after being signed into law, residents should be beginning to see impacts the Alabama Seafood Labeling Law is having on the local industry. The Seafood Labeling Law was signed into law in May 2024, requiring in-state food establishments, such as grocery stores, restaurants, food trucks and in-store delis, to disclose and label whether any seafood being served was imported or domestically produced, as well as whether the seafood was farm-raised or wild-caught. Sellers are encouraged, but not required, to disclose the country of origin of imported foreign fish or shellfish. It also requires seafood suppliers who sell to these establishments within the state to disclose the country of origin so the retailers can accurately inform customers. It does not apply to ingredients in processed food. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:47
Higgins, Nehls Introduce the Save the Shrimpers Act
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ongressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) and Troy Nehls (R-TX) reintroduced the Save Our Shrimpers Act, which prohibits federal funds from being made available to International Financial Institutions (IFIs) that finance activities related to shrimp farming, shrimp processing, or the export of shrimp to the United States. This legislation directs an investigation within the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) and requires annual reports to Congress that track whether IFIs’ U.S. Executive Directors are complying with Federal law USC 262(h) and opposing any assistance from international financial institutions that cause injury or harm to U.S. producers. Congressman Higgins has been a strong advocate for Louisiana’s seafood industry. Most recently, in February, he sent a letter to President Trump requesting tariffs and increased trade enforcement for seafood imports from China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:45
Port Isabel EDC helps keep shrimpers afloat with financial assistance
The Gulf shrimp industry is struggling to stay afloat against a flood of cheap imported shrimp, and Brownsville-Port Isabel’s shrimp industry is far from immune. It’s not a new problem, but this year the Port Isabel Economic Development Corporation opted to take action, in the form of financial assistance to help shrimp boat owners pay for fuel. Port Isabel City Manager Jared Hockema said the EDC provided six grants of $10,000 each to individual boat owners on a first come, first serve basis. To be eligible, boat owners had to be based in Port Isabel and had to have operated a boat or fleet last year, he said. The city, meanwhile, made sure there was no overlap in ownership among recipient companies, so no one got more than their share, Hockema said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:03
Shrimp season reopens in the Gulf of Mexico, Aransas Pass fleet heads that way
Shrimp season is back in full swing at Conn Brown Harbor now that state and federal waters have reopened to commercial shrimping. It’s a busy time for shrimpers after being closed for over two months. “Boats are coming out of Palacios, Aransas Pass, Brownsville, Galveston. All the different ports,” Aransas Pass local Cecil Robles said. An armada of shrimp boats is off to the Gulf of Mexico, hoping to fill their nets with tiny treasures. Robles works at Conn Brown Harbor, where he fuels shrimp boats for Erickson and Jensen seafood packers. “The next few days, we’ll start to hear from them about what they’re catching and how abundant the fish are,” Robles said. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:59
Louisiana shrimpers forced to gamble their livelihood to stay in the industry
Craig Theriot looks out at the Gulf of Mexico as his boat is fueled up. It’s the waters he’s worked his entire life. If anything breaks in the next 10 days, he’ll never be able to work her waters again.”I’m leaving tomorrow. I don’t make much money, but it’s a check,” Theriot said Feb. 27. “Hopefully we don’t have a breakdown, ‘cuz if we get a breakdown, I’m done. You can put me on the shelf.” The life and work that he loves is in jeopardy, more now than any other year. Boats are being sold, and processors are closing their doors, all because of the record low prices. Imports are driving the American shrimper out of the market, and Theriot doesn’t want to give it up waiting and watching his savings dwindle. He’d rather go out working. more, >>click to read<< 08:20
Coastal Georgia shrimpers fear loss of industry as foreign seafood crowds market
“Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it gets worse,” said Pat Mathews, the owner of the Lazaretto Packing Co. on Tybee Island, as he walked away from a truck idling in the loading zone. Early on a Monday morning in October in the height of shrimp season the driver had come to pick up a load of freshly caught shrimp from the James W. Salyers, a shrimp boat captained by David Attia. The driver delivered disappointing news, informing Pat that this would be the last load he would be able to pick up for the foreseeable future. The Mathews family has been in the seafood business for over a century. Where they once owned several seafood markets, their business now centers on the dock they own at Tybee, one of the few hubs of the industry that has been an iconic business on Georgia’s 100-mile coast. >>click to read<< 10:53
Lawmakers form Seafood Caucus to help Louisiana fishermen
Consumers likely don’t think twice about where the shrimp or seafood bought at grocery store comes from, but Louisiana fisherman—and now federal lawmakers—are asking people to pay attention. “We’re losing an industry and a culture and a way of life in Louisiana and across the country,” said Acy Cooper, who comes from a long line of shrimpers. He says what was once a reliable profession has now become heartache. It’s not just a problem in Louisiana—which is why lawmakers from all four of the country’s coasts are joining together to find a solution. Video, >>click to read<< 10:28
Beaufort’s shrimping industry on the brink. Local boats sit while imported catch floods market
Thursday at Village Creek on St. Helena Island was another picture postcard-worthy morning with an American flag lilting in a slight southeast breeze near the shrimper Gracie Bell — idly tied to the dock. At Sea Eagle Market, a catch of shrimp swept up in the nets of trawlers in recent days are being processed by small group of dockside workers. They clean the valuable seafood crop harvested from waters as far away as North Carolina to the northeast coast of Florida before being sold locally and up and down the Palmetto State’s coast. After this recent harvest was completed, the boats returned, as they always do — to Village Creek, home base for shrimping on Fripp and Hunting Islands in Beaufort County and beyond. Against this serene backdrop, a storm is brewing that threatens destruction. It is not the threat of foul weather, these shrimpers have seen generations of bad weather days. The storm brewing is economic for the community of shrimpers and related businesses. >click to read< 10:10
