HLS 23RS-242 ORIGINAL
2023 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 29
BY REPRESENTATIVE KERNER
AQUACULTURE: Urges and requests the president of the United States to reconsider the
signed agreement that facilitates growth of certain aquaculture exports from Ecuador
to the United States
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request the president of the United States to reconsider the signed agreement
3 that facilitates growth of certain aquaculture exports from Ecuador to the United
4 States.
5 WHEREAS, on August 18, 2022, the United States Food and Drug Administration
6(FDA) signed a confidentiality commitment with Ecuador's vice minister of Aquaculture and
7Fisheries (VAP) within the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries
8of the Republic of Ecuador; and
9 WHEREAS, the purpose of the confidentiality commitment or agreement is to allow
10for the exchange of confidential information, including inspection of records, draft
11rulemaking and guidance, and other nonpublic documents; and
12 WHEREAS, the agreement with Ecuador is designed to ensure the safety of shrimp
13imported to the United States and offers guarantees for aquaculture exports to the United
14States; and
15 WHEREAS, according to an article from the seafood industry's trade publication
16Seafood Source, in the first six months of 2022, Ecuador exported at least one billion one
17hundred million pounds of shrimp abroad at that time, with the United States being its
18second-biggest market; and
Page 1 of 2 HLS 23RS-242 ORIGINAL
HCR NO. 29
1 WHEREAS, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in
22020, the United States imported approximately one billion six hundred million pounds of
3shrimp, an increase of up to seven and one half percent from 2019; and
4 WHEREAS, in 2022, Ecuador was the second leading source of shrimp exports to
5the United States, after India, exporting four hundred forty-one million pounds of shrimp to
6the United States, according to Seafood Source; and
7 WHEREAS, according to the 2021-2022 annual report from the Louisiana
8Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, shrimp are the state's most valuable fishery; and
9 WHEREAS, the average real dockside value of Louisiana shrimp fell from one dollar
10and ninety-three cents per pound in 2000 to one dollar and three cents per pound in 2018;
11and
12 WHEREAS, this unfair competition allows foreign competitors to flood the United
13States market, devastating local industries.
14 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
15urge and request the president of the United States to reconsider an agreement signed with
16Ecuador that facilitates growth of certain aquaculture exports from Ecuador to the United
17States.
18 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
19White House and to the presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representative of
20the Congress of the United States and to each member of the Louisiana congressional
21delegation.
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 29 Original 2023 Regular Session Kerner
Urges and requests the president of the United States to reconsider the agreement signed
with Ecuador that facilitates growth of certain aquaculture exports from Ecuador to the
United States.
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