U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana is making a big move to deal with the issues of Indian shrimp imports. He wants to make sure that Indian shrimp doesn’t flood the market, making it hard for American shrimp farmers.
This bill is to put taxes on Indian shrimp coming into the U.S. This would help match the advantages that Indian shrimp gets from their government.
John Williams, who is the head of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, says that it’s been over 10 years, and Indian shrimp has been a big problem for American shrimpers. Now, with this bill, they want all U.S. senators in the Gulf and South Atlantic areas to help make things right.
People who care about American shrimp, like the Southern Shrimp Alliance, support this bill. They want to make things fair for our shrimp farmers.
Around 40% of the shrimp one can find in U.S. markets coming from India. But India isn’t better at shrimp farming than anyone else. They’re winning because they do some things that are not so great. They use banned antibiotics, they sometimes make people work in low standard conditions and also got govt subsidy along side.
Senator Cassidy also wants to fix some problems with China. He put forward another bill called the Prioritizing Offensive Agricultural Disputes and Enforcement Act. This one is about keeping an eye on what China does with farming and making sure they play fair.
He says that when you eat shrimp, you want it to be good and healthy. But some countries don’t always play by the rules. So, by getting India and China to follow the rules, it helps American shrimpers and makes sure our food is safe.
This is part of a bigger effort by lawmakers to make sure that there are good rules for bringing shrimp into the U.S. In August, two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Garret Graves and Kathy Castor, introduced a law called the Laws Ensuring Safe Shrimp Act. This law wants to make sure that the shrimp we get is safe and high quality. It also makes sure the U.S. Food and Drug Administration checks shrimp and shrimp products properly.
Representative Graves says we can’t allow shrimp with bad stuff in it to take over the market. We can’t accept lower-quality shrimp that might hurt people’s health. This is avoidable, and this law will help one of Louisiana’s biggest businesses.
