Local elected officials recognize the importance of the Vermilion Parish shrimping industry and are hoping that some of the nation’s top elected officials will see that, too.
The Abbeville City Council voted Tuesday night to adopt a request the Louisiana Congressional delegation and the U.S.Congress to seek trade regulations that would help domestic suppliers, like our Vermilion Parish shrimpers, compete fairly against imported shrimp. The Vermilion Parish Police Jury took a similar step in late November.
“We are following the lead of the Police Jury and most of Louisiana,” Councilman Brady Broussard Jr. said. “We are trying to get some protections for our local shrimping industry, an industry right there in Intracoastal City that values over $20 million of local shrimp, over 12 million pounds of shrimp.
“We need protect our own industries.”
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, global farmed shrimp production grew by more than 3.1 million metric tons from 2000 to ‘13. Today, 90 percent of shrimp consumed by Americans is imported.
Broussard said fighting for a local industry ensures the best product for local people.
“It’s a wild and tasty shrimp versus a farmed shrimp from elsewhere,” Broussard said. “I think we deserve the best shrimp, and that’s what we have here in south Louisiana.”
In Vermilion Parish, there are 80 large shrimping vessels that dock at Intracoastal City. They employ 370 people directly and another 100 more jobs related to shrimp handling, processing and marketing. Police Juror Wayne Touchet said in November that the shrimping industry is too important to allow it to dwindle without an effort.
“We have to do something,” said Touchet. “This is a start. We are going to start on the local level, and climb the ladder all the way to Washington D.C. We have to do something. The shrimp industry is too vital to the parish to lose it.”
