March 26, 2025 — Total shrimp imports to the U.S. were up significantly year over year in January, as reported by NOAA, from just over 131 million pounds, or 59,442 metric tons (MT), to nearly 157 million pounds (71,188 MT), an increase of 19.76 percent.
The change was mostly due to a big bump in Indian imports, as well as increases from Vietnam and Thailand.
February 13, 2025 — U.S. Representative Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) recently sent a letter to the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump that offered simple advice on Trump’s tariff policies: To save American seafood, tax imports from China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Higgins shared the letter he sent to the president on social media platform X with the caption, “Protecting the American seafood industry requires aggressive action.”
May 15, 2024 — Vietnam is aiming to have a modern, sustainable fishing industry, in line with those countries who already have a developed fishing sector across the region and to make it align with world fishing operations by 2050.
It is one of the targets set in a plan for aquatic resources protection and exploitation for the period 2021-30, which has been approved by Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang.
Under that plan, marine biodiversity and inland waterways will be preserved and developed to safeguard all material and spiritual improvements; ensure social security; protect sovereignty, security and to protect the national interests across Vietnam’s rivers and seas.
The target is a sustainable and responsible fishery sector in keeping with international integration requirements.
Fisheries exploitation will unite to protect the environment, adapting to climate change and proactively prevent and combat natural disasters.
The goal is for 27 marine protected areas to be set and operated over a total area of about 463,587ha, accounting for about 0.463 per cent of the nation’s waterways.
As many as 149 sea areas and 19 inland areas will be zoned to protect aquatic resources and young aquatic animals, while Vietnam aims to set a maximum total number of fishing vessels to about 83,600.
There will also be a strong focus on recovering aquatic resources, especially economically valuable species; endangered, precious and rare ones.
March 27, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) is planning to hit shrimp exporters in Ecuador, India, and Vietnam with higher countervailing duties once it posts its preliminary determinations to the Federal Register.
The DOC released its preliminary determinations on 26 March, finding the three countries, as well as individual companies in those countries, benefited from subsidies that gave them an unfair advantage in the U.S. market between 1 January and 31 December 2022.
October 26, 2023 — The American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA), an organization representing the interests of U.S. wild-caught warmwater shrimp processing, has filed trade petitions seeking additional antidumping and countervailing duties on imported shrimp.
The trade petitions, which the ASPA said are intended to address unfair dumping and illegal subsidies, consist of a request for antidumping duties on imported frozen warmwater shrimp from Ecuador and Indonesia, and countervailing duties on imported shrimp from Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
August 22, 2022 — Vietnam has rolled out a plan to significantly increase its aquaculture production.
Under the plan, by 2025, Vietnam hopes to produce 5.6 million metric tons (MT) of farmed seafood per year – up 16.7 percent from the 4.8 million MT the country produced in 2021.
November 8, 2021 — Friend of the Sea, the global certification standard for products and services that respect and protect the marine environment, is pleased to announce the certification of Hai Trieu Food for sustainable fishing practices. Consequently, the company can display the Friend of the Sea eco-label on its products, highlighting its efforts to protect and preserve the environment.
Hai Trieu Food was established in 2006 in Vietnam and, after 13 years in business, has become one of the leading seafood companies in the country. With a seven vessels fleet, Hai Trieu Food specializes in processing and exporting wild-caught yellowfin tuna products with high-quality international standards.
Yellowfin tuna is one of Vietnam’s most important exports, surpassing a total annual value of more than 300 million dollars. However, as the national tuna industry grows, so does the need to protect the country’s magnificent marine biodiversity from the impact of unsustainable fishing practices.
Read the full story at Friends of the Sea
August 5, 2021 — At least 103 seafood processing plants in southern Vietnam have been temporarily shuttered due to lockdowns imposed in response to the country’s largest-ever outbreak of COVID-19.
More than 178,000 residents having contracted the virus since 27 April, with most cases in the country’s south.
April 12, 2021 — Four countries are upping their engagement in the fight against marine litter and plastic pollution by teaming with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to organize a ministerial conference on preserving the oceans through the sustainable production and consumption of plastics.
Germany, Vietnam, Ecuador, and Ghana are organizing the ministerial conference, to be held in September 2021, in line with a decision made during the first session of the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) – held virtually between 22 and 23 February – as the push for a common position on marine litter and plastic pollution intensifies among global community members.
January 22, 2021 — A severe shortage of shipping containers is leading to rising shipping costs and difficulty moving goods, playing havoc with seafood exporters in Asia.
The shortage has been felt by all major exporters in Vietnam, Thailand, China, and India. Data from Vietnamese seafood exporters show that the shipping cost to the European Union rose between 145 percent and 276 percent in January, compared to December last year.