Strangely enough, nobody ever argues from the point of view of quality. US Gulf shrimp and Atlantic shrimp (such as Mayport shrimp from North Florida) are much tastier than the farm raised Chinese stuff, and I think a market for quality could be built. Let the Chinese stuff go into frozen foods, fast food "shrimp," etc. Sell the good stuff for eating here by people who know what shrimp should taste like.
But that would require marketing and a little creativity, which no industry likes to engage in, especially if they can get the federal government to go out and do things for them instead.
They do try but from what I've heard from local shrimpers is that it requires that local restaurants who are their main constumers must advertize whether they are using Gulf shrimp. I always ask but tourists don't know to ask.
The milk industry finally got off their government-protected duffs and started marketing milk with kid-attracting cartoon characters, portable single-serving containers, bright colors, etc. You're right, there's no reason the shrimp industry can't do the same thing.
There's a market out there of people willing to pay top dollar for extremely high quality goods.
"Strangely enough, nobody ever argues from the point of view of quality. US Gulf shrimp and Atlantic shrimp (such as Mayport shrimp from North Florida) are much tastier than the farm raised Chinese stuff, and I think a market for quality could be built. Let the Chinese stuff go into frozen foods, fast food "shrimp," etc. Sell the good stuff for eating here by people who know what shrimp should taste like.
But that would require marketing and a little creativity, which no industry likes to engage in, especially if they can get the federal government to go out and do things for them instead."
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Now that you mention it, I recall from an earlier article posted here on the same subject, a number of Gulf shrimpers are marketing their product as better tasting than the farm-raised stuff.