ENROLLED
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 225
BY REPRESENTATIVES LEOPOLD, BILLIOT, CONNICK, GAROFALO, GISCLAIR,
HARRISON, AND ST. GERMAIN
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions as are necessary to work to
adopt policies that will help with the stability and the viability of the domestic
shrimp industry, including support for the Imported Seafood Safety Standards Act.
WHEREAS, consumption of seafood is one of the fastest growing areas of our
nation's food supply with shrimp being one of the most consumed seafood products in the
United States; and
WHEREAS, over three-fourths of the seafood consumed in the United States is
imported from other countries around the world with shrimp as the leading fresh or frozen
product imported into the United States accounting for about twenty-eight percent of all
seafood imports by weight; and
WHEREAS, most of the shrimp consumed in the United States is grown in
man-made ponds along the coasts of Thailand, Vietnam, Ecuador, and other tropical
countries rather than being harvested from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico; and
WHEREAS, the countries that produce most of the shrimp consumed worldwide
support their shrimp hatcheries with large state subsidies to keep the price of their shrimp
lower than the prices that our domestic Gulf of Mexico shrimpers need to charge in order
to just break even; and
WHEREAS, the Tariff Act of 1930, a law originally introduced to protect farmers
from imports, allows United States industries to “petition the government for relief from
imports that benefit from subsidies provided through foreign government programs”; and
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WHEREAS, the United States Department of Commerce launched an investigation
in 2013 to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to support the claim that the
seven largest shrimp-producing countries were subsidizing their shrimp industries, an
investigation that will run concurrently with the International Trade Commission's (ITC)
examination of whether the subsidies are causing significant injury to United States
producers with both investigations needing to call for countervailing duties before any
penalties could be applied; and
WHEREAS, in September 2013, the ITC voted to throw out the shrimp
countervailing duty case based on the fact that injury to the domestic industry was not
proven, thus removing the possibility of a countervailing duty and terminating the shrimp
subsidy investigation against Ecuador, China, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam; and
WHEREAS, the ITC's decision has had a devastating impact on the domestic shrimp
industry, including the shrimpers trawling the Gulf of Mexico and landing their shrimp at
Louisiana docks; and
WHEREAS, without relief from the unfair foreign competition undercutting the
domestic shrimp prices, the prices that shrimpers are getting at the dock have dropped over
fifty percent from last year making it almost impossible for shrimpers to earn enough money
to provide for their families; and
WHEREAS, the Imported Seafood Safety Standards Act introduced in the United
States Senate by Louisiana Senator David Vitter is being supported by the American Shrimp
Processors Association and it specifically targets foreign food imported into the United
States with hopes of tightening testing standards, increasing inspection standards on foreign
imported seafood, requiring placement of United States safety standards for foreign
exporters, and increasing severe penalties for exporters who fail food safety inspections,
ultimately benefitting the American shrimp industry.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions as are necessary to work to
adopt policies that will help with the stability and the viability of the domestic shrimp
industry including support for the Imported Seafood Safety Standards Act.
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Congress of the
United States of America and to each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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