Earlier this week, Congressman Mike Ezell and other Members of Congress representing Gulf Coast states sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to highlight issues facing the Gulf Coast shrimping industry.

The bipartisan letter, led by Representatives Randy Weber (TX-14), Garret Graves (LA-06), and Vicente Gonzalez (TX-34), asks the Biden administration officials to answer questions about how foreign imports threaten to put domestic producers out of business, especially as the industry faces increased fuel prices and labor shortages.

“As a lifelong resident of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I know many people who rely on the shrimping industry to support their families," said Congressman Ezell. "We can't allow other nations to break the rules and put hardworking Americans out of business."

Foreign producers have a history of selling shrimp below their production costs in the U.S. market in an effort to undermine domestic shrimpers. The International Trade Commission previously found that these unfair trade practices cost American shrimpers more than $4 billion and resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs.

The number of commercial shrimp licenses purchased in Gulf states is rapidly decreasing, but shrimp are still one of the most valuable commercial species in Mississippi, with dockside values accounting for over $12 million in 2021.