Frustrated with decades of competition from cheaper, imported shrimp, shrimpers from Louisiana have launched a petition calling on the U.S. federal government to take action to restrict imports and better support domestic producers.
“The Louisiana Shrimp Association is asking fishermen, fishing families, seafood businesses, restaurants, consumers, and everyone who supports American jobs and American seafood to stand with us,” the association said in a 30 August Facebook post. “Our wild-caught shrimp industry is in crisis. American shrimp harvesters are struggling with unsustainable dockside prices while enormous volumes of imported shrimp continue to enter our country.”
The U.S. imported 795,641 metric tons (MT) of shrimp in 2025, valued at USD 7 billion (EUR 6 billion), representing a 2 percent year-over-year increase. In comparison, Gulf of Mexico landings have continuously declined over the last decade, with shrimpers landing just 196 million pounds in 2023 – the fishery’s lowest value since 1970. Domestic producers have long complained about both the quantity and quality of imported shrimp, arguing that imports drive down the prices U.S. shrimpers can ask for their products by flooding the market. Prices for Gulf shrimp have dropped from roughly USD 6 (EUR 5.20) per pound in the 1980s to USD 2 (EUR 1.73) per pound.
In March 2026, NOAA Fisheries released a report stating that the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fleet “cannot sustainably compete” with imported shrimp. The shrimp sector has also been hit hard in recent years by both Covid-19 and inflation; that same report found that the shrimp fishery’s revenue shrank from USD 489 million (EUR 424) in 2021 to USD 221 million (EUR 192) in 2023.
Now, the Louisiana Shrimp Association has launched a petition on Action Network, an open platform that allows individuals and organizations to collect signatures. The petition is addressed to U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration.
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