A worker grades a road near corn and soybean fields in the Morganza Spillway in this file photo from 2019.
Facing pressure from cheap imported shrimp, changing environmental conditions and rising costs, Louisiana’s shrimpers are experiencing a crisis that threatens their very existence, according to Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Mike Strain, who is calling on state lawmakers to do more to help save the industry.
“The shrimping industry is on its knees,” Strain said Monday in an annual speech to the Press Club of Baton Rouge. “They’re asking us to step in and take a look at what we can do.”
As recently as a decade ago, shrimp hauled in from the state’s briny waters had a dockside value of nearly $250 million. Last year, that value had plummeted to $38 million. Meanwhile, the number of shrimpers in Louisiana has continued its slide from 6,900 in 2000 to fewer than 1,400 last year.
The causes behind the changing fortunes of the once robust industry are not new, but they continue to worsen, said Strain, rattling off a list of statistics to underscore the problem.
Chief among them is the amount of imported shrimp flooding the domestic market. Nearly 95% of shrimp consumed in the United States today is imported, with nearly 78% of those imports coming from India, Ecuador and Indonesia. “Shrimp fraud” — the mislabeling by foreign companies of imported shrimp as locally sourced — also continues to be a problem, undercutting price and cheating customers out of what they paid for.
Adding to the problem are changing environmental conditions due, in part, to new liquified natural gas projects as well as higher costs of doing business from labor shortages and other factors.
Strain outlined measures enacted by the Louisiana Legislature last summer that recently took effect requiring restaurants to include statements in their menus to clarify if the shrimp is imported or locally sourced. The statements must match the font style and size of the menu to ensure visibility to consumers.
New state laws also give the state’s Agriculture Department more control over the sampling and testing of commercial seafood as well as greater enforcement provisions.
The department is now able to issue stop orders to companies whose shrimp test positive for antibiotics. Strain said the department also is now requiring companies to keep at least six months of records on shrimp volume and origin to pinpoint whether businesses are selling imported or domestic shrimp.
Dave Williams, president of SeaD Consulting, which the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force hires to carry out species testing, said testing shrimp for antibiotics doesn’t hurt, but it may not solve the industry’s safety and labeling problems. The ban of certain antibiotics may be outpaced by the creation of new, unregulated antibiotics.
He said the industry needs heavier enforcement on restaurants for using authentic, American shrimp. According to a recent SeaD study, mislabeled shrimp costs the industry $225,000 a day.
The penalty for mislabeling is a fine ranging from $200 to $500.
“If 94% of the shrimp sold in the United States is imported from areas that might have antibiotics, then stopping a few containers, it’s not really going to make a difference in the overall supply,” Williams said.
Strain said the department wants to do more and will ask lawmakers for additional enforcement power during the 2026 legislative session. He said he is also planning to request funds for additional testing and enforcement as well as for marketing and promotion.
“We can’t regulate our way back into seafood prosperity with shrimp,” he said. “We have to promote it.”
The state’s shrimp industry isn’t the only sector of the agricultural industry being squeezed by broader forces, Strain said in his wide-ranging remarks. Crops are being produced at or below their production costs, driving up their retail costs and leaving farmers in debt.
Strain said corn, wheat, beans, cotton and rice have been produced at or below their production costs for the past three years, causing the state “tremendous economic stress.” Costs have risen across the distribution chain, from processing to transportation to labor, causing farmers to take out loans to cover the expenses.
A worker grades a road near corn and soybean fields in the Morganza Spillway in this file photo from 2019.
“The bottom line is that farmers are price takers, not price makers, and so that has been a significant issue,” he said.
Strain said he is expecting funds from the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, a one-time payment program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency to alleviate the financial stress from low commodity prices, to help farmers’ debt.
Bird flu is also a problem negatively impacting Louisiana farmers. Turkey prices have risen up to 40% due to the decline in the national turkey population, which has been decimated by bird flu, reaching its lowest point in the 40 years.
Strain said his department is monitoring levels of the disease, especially as birds migrate south for the winter.
Email Ianne Salvosa at ianne.salvosa@theadvocate.com.
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