Support continues to grow for the Save Our Shrimpers (SOS) Act, legislation that would require the U.S. government to oppose World Bank and other U.S.-taxpayer-backed International Financial Institutions (IFIs) support for foreign shrimp aquaculture projects. The bill overwhelmingly passed the House. Bipartisan companion legislation has been introduced in the Senate. Now, local governments and municipal bodies throughout the coastal South are urging the Senate to pass this bipartisan legislation before the end of this Congress.
An Overwhelming Vote in the House
The House passed the SOS Act, introduced and championed by Representative Troy Nehls (R-TX), by a vote of 391 to 18. Margins like that are rare in Congress today and show broad, bipartisan agreement that American taxpayer dollars should not subsidize foreign competitors of the U.S. shrimp industry.
Domestic fishermen and processors already compete with a flood of imported shrimp, much of it unfairly traded and produced with standards that differ sharply from those in the United States. World Bank and IFI funding worsens those imbalances, increasing a global oversupply of shrimp production that depresses wholesale shrimp prices and has devastated shrimping communities across the country.
The Senate Takes Up the Issue
After the House vote, companion legislation was introduced in the Senate with the support of Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Katie Boyd Britt (R-AL), John Kennedy (R-LA), Rick Scott (R-FL), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA).
Local Governments Add Their Voices
The groundswell to see the SOS Act pass the Senate before the end of the year is growing. Communities closely tied to the shrimp industry are urging the Senate to act. Several local governments and municipal authorities have taken formal action in support of the legislation:
- The City of Biloxi, Mississippi
- Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana
- The City of Bayou La Batre, Alabama
- The Port Canaveral Commission in Florida (watch the video)
These communities witnessed firsthand the effects of World Bank and IFI-funded foreign shrimp farming on local shrimp fleets, docks, processors, and the families that depend on them. Their resolutions underscore that the effects of U.S. policy on shrimp imports are felt directly on the working waterfront and throughout local economies, well beyond Washington.
“The Southern Shrimp Alliance thanks every community, elected official, and individual that has stood up for America’s shrimpers and voiced support for the Save Our Shrimpers Act,” said Blake Price, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “This bipartisan Act is not controversial and needs to move forward. U.S. taxpayers should not be forced to fund our foreign competitors through the World Bank. Local resolutions spotlight the real, terrible harm these projects have done to working families in communities across the Gulf and South Atlantic.”