Louisiana shrimpers say their industry is in dire peril. They say rising diesel fuel costs, lax testing of imports, and most of all, competition from foreign imports are the culprits.
“There’s no room for us. We have cold storage that’s full of shrimp that we can’t get rid of because importers are coming in and selling so much cheaper than we can produce,” said Acy Cooper, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association.
Cooper says this more than two billion pounds imported shrimp is coming into the United States, a number that keeps rising. He says an estimated 1.6 billion pounds of shrimp are consumed each year by Americans.
Cooper says the imported shrimp is not only bad for the economy, it is bad for consumers’ health. He cites a Consumer Reports study on shrimp safety:
“A study from 2015: Sixty percent coming into the United States has banned antibiotics and steroids in these shrimp. And you’re feeding the American public this trash,” said Cooper.
The federal government regulates seafood imports. Louisiana has a law requiring imported shrimp and crawfish to be labelled, but has no ability to stop the imports.
“We need our federal delegation to give us a hand here and help us,” Cooper said. “All our coastal communities are going to suffer and going to dissipate and disappear.”
