Thursday, June 6, 2013


The U.S. Commerce Department May Levy Countervailing Duties on Imported Farmed Shrimp


Countervailing will be Unavailing
Sea Port foresees farmed shrimp Countervailing Duties as being unavailing for improving the economic lives of U.S. Shrimpers, U.S. Consumers, and for the many shrimp farmers of Indo-Asia-Pacific Developing Countries.  Implementation of such duties would make the cost of shrimp (America’s favorite seafood) more expensive and therefore less affordable to all U.S. consumers.

Sea Port believes Countervailing will be Unavailing in improving the marketing, production/processing efficiencies, and environmental impacts of the U.S. Gulf wild shrimp fishery.

Sea Port believes Countervailing will be Unavailing in improving the poverty levels of developing countries that have expanding shrimp aquaculture that is designed to help lift families out of such poverty.

Sea Port believes Countervailing will be Unavailing in promoting U.S. consumers to consume more affordable seafood to improve their health.

In short, Countervailing will be Unavailing for the majority of shrimp producers and consumers and only has a chance of benefiting a very few politically connected U.S. wild shrimp fishery participants.

Sea Port believes that Countervailing and Unavailing need to be replaced with Prevailing:

Prevailing should be what the U.S. Shrimpers are doing in their efforts to market their wild catch as distinguishable from farmed imported shrimp, advance their production and processing efficiencies, and to lessen their environmental impacts due to trawling and by-catch.

Prevailing should be what Indo-Asia-Pacific developing countries are doing in their struggle to alleviate poverty by expanding not only shrimp aquaculture but other farmed seafood species as well.

Prevailing should be what U.S. consumers are doing in their quest to improve their health by consuming more affordable shrimp and other seafood.

In short, Prevailing should be what the majority does over the minority who resort to using politics and barriers to achieve benefits rather than using constructive creativity for which the seafood industry is proudly known.

Sea Port is optimistic that the constructively creative seafood industry will continue to prevail in its quest to provide more affordable healthy seafood for an ever-expanding world population in spite of any possible farmed shrimp Countervailing Duties that we find quite unavailing in many respects.