July 26, 2023 — The Louisiana shrimp industry is in crisis; putting our 15,000 jobs and $1.3 billion industry at risk.
During the legislative session, hundreds of shrimpers, dock owners and processors marched on the State Capitol to call out unwanted competition from imported shrimp.
Louisiana plays a significant role in the U.S. shrimp market, accounting for 25% of the nation’s demand. But imports from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Ecuador are flooding U.S. markets, resulting in distressed prices for our product.
Absent an outright ban or a cap and control mechanism on imported shrimp, it becomes increasingly challenging to sustain our livelihoods. Additionally, imports raise concerns about cheap foreign labor practices and potential health risks.
Expanding testing and enforcing country-of-origin labeling are common sense solutions to ensure consumer safety and awareness. But our pleas for assistance to our federal and state lawmakers continue to go unanswered.
To add insult to injury, we face another threat by Louisiana’s recreational and for-hire charter fishermen who have suggested there need to be arbitrary and scientifically unsubstantiated limits on commercial fishing, including shrimping and Gulf menhaden fishing, to reduce incidental bycatch of speckled trout and redfish.
While conservation efforts of these stressed species are important, singling out the commercial fishing sector without addressing the root causes of reckless overfishing by the tens of thousands of unmonitored anglers off Louisiana’s coast is misguided. Louisiana’s commercial fisheries follow sound fisheries management practices.
We are heavily regulated, guided by science and sustainability. We will not allow others to selectively shift blame to us when they need to do more to preserve and protect their catch.
Failure to address these challenges will have far-reaching consequences, potentially resulting in the loss of not just our industry but a cultural heritage deeply intertwined with our coastal communities.
ACY COOPER
president, Louisiana Shrimp Association