WESTWEGO -- The shrimping season just began, but the shrimp industry in Louisiana is struggling to compete with foreign seafood.
The price of shrimp is low, which is good for customers, but not for shrimpers.
“A lot of people are buying shrimp, we’re swamped today and have been for the last two weeks,” Veronica Creppel, who runs a seafood stand in Westwego, said.
The low price of shrimp is making it hard for them to earn a profit.
“We had a delivery just the other day and the guy was very upset,” Creppel said. “I was asking for the prices to go down, he said he’s not making money. It’s not even worth it anymore!”
Foreign seafood imports are flooding the market, undercutting Louisiana shrimpers and driving down the price. Some seafood stands in Westwego are trying to help the fishermen by refusing to sell any seafood that’s not from the Gulf.
“This place will not sell foreign shrimp,” Creppel said.
Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) criticized the seafood imports last month, stating Louisiana can’t compete with foreign seafood, which is mass produced and faces fewer regulation.
He proposed an amendment to spend an additional $3.1 million on seafood inspections on foreign imports in order to level the playing field for Louisiana shrimpers.
In the meantime, those shrimpers are discussing a strike, which would be devastating for seafood stands.
“We’d only have crabs and oysters,” Creppel said. “That would really hurt our business. We might lose days. We might close days even.”