Posted on 04/12/2025 5:10:47 AM PDT by Libloather
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.
"We need to put a cap on the amount of shrimp that comes into the country," Rodney said. "You're going to have a glut of shrimp on the market and our price will never rebound. So we're hoping again that with these tariffs, maybe that will turn things around. That's the only thing we got to hang our hat on right now. We're losing our industry."
According to NOAA Fisheries, between 2021 and 2024, the U.S. spent between $6 and $8 billion dollars a year on shrimp from other countries. Making it the top seafood import.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
We were just in Biloxi for Mardi Gras and took a shrimp boat tour. The guide/captain was saying the same thing.
I grew up eating those fine Texas shrimp when I would visit my father, for a little while he even had a little shrimp boat, (maybe a 50 footer).
Only a fool would purchase contaminated, third world farm raised seafood.
If there’s not already, some smart cookie should come up with a plan to ship overnight fresh gulf shrimp. I would pay just to try them. Argentine shrimp is also have a unique flavor.
See my link #6.
The ChiComs aren’t foolish.
They’re buying an ally.
And the Chinese citizenry will eat their contaminated seafood...
AND LIKE IT.
I love shrimp, but I do not order it in a restaurant because I know I would be served farmed shrimp from one of those filthy countries. No, thank you. Ditto for most of tge frozen seafood one sees at the grocery store.
Anyone who has eaten Gulf Shrimp knows there is no equal.
The best American shrimp I ever had were rock shrimp from Florida cooked with shells on. Unfortunately they got overfished and are barely around these days.
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During peak years, commercial landings of brown rock shrimp reached over 20 million pounds annually. Specifically, the highest recorded landings occurred in 1996...This contrasts sharply with the 600,000 pounds landed in 2023
Honestly, given the supply chain length that we all said just 2 years ago needed to change, support your local farmer.
“ Only a fool would purchase contaminated, third world farm raised seafood.”
The worst is Chinese tilapia. They are farmed in filth and sent here.
When “Swai” fish started appearing at stores, I would buy some. I thought “ not bad, and it’s cheap”. Then I read where it came from, and how it’s raised, after the hair on the back of my neck went back down, I said “nope”.
In truth, it did taste a little “off”….😕
I remember in the 70s & 80s the Vietnamese would disregard our shrimping laws and harvest all they could. It really killed the Gulf shrimpers back in the day.
Our national security does not depend on our consumption of only domestic shrimp. This is nothing but an income transfer from one group of Americans — shrimp consumers — to another — shrimp producers.
Shrimp Boats--Jo Stafford (1951)
"Morgan City, where the shrimp boats land..."
Route 90--Clarence "Bon Ton" Garlow (1954)
Foreign fishing operations often use literal slaves. Free labor gives them an unfair advantage.
American companies have higher standards for safety, health, pollution, energy efficiency, etc. when these high standards raise the cost of American goods, the solution should not be to buy foreign products that do not have these standards. Tariffs are necessary to address this imbalance.
"...Snowflake shrimp, Alphabet shrimp, Virtual shrimp, Micro-agressive shrimp, Influencer shrimp, shrimp A.I., Pumpkin Spice shrimp..."
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