HLS 23RS-2765 ORIGINAL
2023 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 113
BY REPRESENTATIVE SCHEXNAYDER
SEAFOOD: Memorializes Congress to ban the import of shrimp and crawfish from outside
the U.S.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions as are necessary to ban the
3 import of shrimp and crawfish from outside the United States.
4 WHEREAS, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in
52019 the United States imported six billion pounds of edible seafood products, including one
6and one half billion pounds of shrimp, an increase of nearly six and one half million pounds
7more than the shrimp imported in 2018; and
8 WHEREAS, the 2019 shrimp imports alone, valued at six billion dollars, accounted
9for twenty-seven percent of the total value of imported seafood that year, which reached
10twenty-two billion dollars; and
11 WHEREAS, it is estimated that over half of the imported seafood consumed in the
12United States is from aquaculture, or seafood farming, rather than wild-caught; and
13 WHEREAS, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible
14for the safety of all fish and fishery products entering the United States and sold in
15Louisiana; and
16 WHEREAS, in 2011 the FDA was only inspecting two percent of the seafood
17imported into the United States, the last year for which data regarding the percentage of
18imports inspected is available; and
19 WHEREAS, because imported seafood is not held to the same standards as domestic
20seafood, domestic fishing industries are put at a distinct and significant disadvantage
21commercially; and
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HCR NO. 113
1 WHEREAS, because labor costs are much lower overseas, peeled crawfish meat is
2much cheaper when imported, resulting in many entities purchasing from other countries
3instead of supporting the local market; and
4 WHEREAS, seafood imported from overseas is not always safe to consume; and
5 WHEREAS, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the
6average value of Louisiana shrimp fell from three dollars and eighty cents per pound in 1980
7to one dollar fifty cents per pound in 2017; and
8 WHEREAS, unfair competition allows foreign competitors to flood the United States
9market with seafood harvested under intensive farming practices, while devastating local
10industries and coastal communities built around them; and
11 WHEREAS, domestically produced shrimp and crawfish offer the best option for the
12health and safety of United States consumers.
13 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
14memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions as are necessary to ban the
15import of shrimp and crawfish from outside the United States.
16 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
17presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Congress of the
18United States of America and to each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 113 Original 2023 Regular Session Schexnayder
Memorializes Congress to ban the import of shrimp and crawfish from outside the United
States.
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