Today, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) introduced the Protect American Fisheries Act of 2024 at a crucial time when the domestic shrimp industry is facing a disastrous collapse at the hands of cheap, often illegally produced and unfairly traded farm-raised shrimp imports overwhelming the U.S. market and driving prices down to a level that can no longer support shrimp fishing operations.
The bill responds to the rejection by NOAA of compelling requests for a fishery resource disaster determination submitted last year to the Secretary of Commerce by Alabama Governor Ivey and Louisiana Governor Edwards. Such a disaster determination would have made the shrimp fishery eligible to receive desperately needed federal disaster assistance under NOAA’s program.
The bill would expand the NOAA Fishery Resource Disaster Assistance Program to cover economic causes contributing to this disaster including activities by foreign governments, companies or international financial institutions that distort the U.S. seafood market or otherwise disrupt or hinder the operational or economic viability of a U.S. fishery. A significant portion of the 1.8 billion pounds of U.S. shrimp imports each year are produced in IUU fisheries including with child or forced labor, with illegal subsidies, or sold at predatory prices.
“We are so grateful to Congresswoman Mace for recognizing what NOAA apparently did not – that fishery disasters can be caused just as much by the economic impacts of cheap illegal imports and predatory pricing as by a hurricane or fish stock collapse,” stated John Williams, Executive Director of SSA. “ In either case, shrimpers can’t go fishing – leaving their families and entire communities in a state of crisis. We really need this bill at this crucial time and appreciate having the opportunity to work with the Congresswoman and her staff on it.”
Background:
On 2023, SSA sent a letter to the Governors of each of the 8 warm-water shrimp producing states from North Carolina to Texas urging them to send a request to the Secretary of Commerce to issue a fishery resource disaster determination pursuant to Section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1861a(a)). Alabama Governor Ivey and Louisiana Governor Edwards sent such requests to Secretary Gina Raimondo on October 3, 2023, and September 26, 2023, respectively. Both Governors received the same response from NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fishery Janet Coit rejecting the Governor’s request. The reasons cited by NOAA for this rejection were:
“The MSA requires that a fishery resource disaster must be a result of a natural cause, discrete anthropogenic cause, or undetermined cause, including a cause that occurred not more than 5 years prior to the date of a request for a fishery resource disaster determination that affected such applicable fishery.2 In this instance, because the resource exists and is accessible, and the decision not to fish (i.e., not to access the resource) is based on economic factors, rather than inaccessibility of the resource, the allowable cause criteria for a fishery resource disaster are not satisfied.
Thus, based on our review, your request is ineligible for a fishery resource disaster determination.”
Governor Ivey’s request letter: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/s3/2023-11/Ivey-AL-Shrimp-Req.pdf
Governor Edwards request letter: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/s3/2023-11/Edwards-LA-Shrimp-Req.pdf
NOAA Response to Governor Edwards: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/s3/2023-11/DOC-Response-LA-Shrimp.pdf
NOAA Response to Governor Ivey: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/s3/2023-11/DOC-Response-AL-Shrimp.pdf