Tensions simmer between shrimpers and importers
By JOHN DeSANTIS Senior Staff Writer
December 8, 2002
HOUMA -- A confederacy of Southern shrimp-producing states took a tentative but large step this week toward possible trade actions against imports they say have been dumped on the U.S. market.
But U.S. importers made it clear they are ready to fight back.
The Southern Shrimp Alliance’s directing board includes wild-shrimp industry representatives from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina. It expects to announce a final choice of lawyers and lobbyists before the new year that would lead the fight against the alleged wave of imports that have driven down domestic shrimp prices.
Meanwhile, leading U.S. shrimp importers are offering to help keep the sinking domestic industry afloat and are warning of a battle if shrimpers continue toward a trade petition.
If petitions to the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission are successful, tariffs could be levied on foreign shrimp that would have to be paid by importers. And the price of imported shrimp could rise to levels more in tune with the dockside prices traditionally paid to U.S. shrimp fishermen.
"We are in a delicate stage," said the South Shrimp Alliance’s newly elected president, South Carolina business owner Eddie Gordon.
He confirmed that selection of attorneys and a lobbying firm are close at hand. Gordon and other alliance members heard presentations from six Washington, D.C., law firms Thursday and Friday in Atlanta.
Once final choices are made, Gordon said, the law firm could begin almost immediately to investigate which shrimp from which nations have unsettled the U.S. market. It would be the first step toward petitioning the Commerce Department for trade relief.
Representatives from the various states who are involved with fisheries they say are on the brink of collapse because of low dockside prices due to decreased demand for domestic shrimp. They are still engaged in fund-raising efforts for a trade action that could cost $1 million or more just to get off the ground.
Gordon and other alliance officials did not disclose the names of front-running firms.
But the endeavor threatens to become a David-versus-Goliath-style battle should the trade action proceed.
RATTLING SABRES
Richard Gutting, director of the National Fisheries Institute, whose membership includes U.S. seafood importers, said that segment of the industry is drawing battle lines. But, he added, the preference is a combined effort to help domestic-shrimp marketing.
"These people come down and make promises," Gutting said of attorneys courting the shrimp fishermen and their allies. "People are hurting and these people make promises and never deliver. And at the end of the day, they are the only ones who make any money."
The threat of a trade action is taken seriously by companies whose livelihoods center on bringing inexpensive imported shrimp to consumers, Gutting said. Those companies will use their resources to keep that pipeline from being shut off.
"This is very complicated and very dynamic. It is a commodity-based market which competes on price, not characteristics," Gutting said of importers and other large seafood players. "These people lining up against them is a threat to their supply. They are threatening to cut them off at the knees.
"Twelve percent of the shrimp consumed in the U.S. is produced in the U.S., and 88 percent is imported. They are going to cut the spigot off."
PEACE OFFERING
There has been talk, Gutting said, of giant import-related companies offering enough assistance to the domestic wild-shrimp industry to stave off a trade action.
But some domestic-fisheries leaders are still smarting from the National Fisheries Institute’s refusal to aid them in their fight against turtle-excluder devices a decade ago.
The organization was opposed to U.S. efforts that mandated the turtle-escape chutes for fisheries in countries that export to the U.S. Louisiana shrimpers have long complained that the devices allow too much shrimp to escape their nets, putting them at a competitive disadvantage.
Gutting acknowledges that there has been bad blood but affirmed his desire to help during the price crisis. And he said his organization must offer the olive branch and win back trust.
"We have to show them," said Gutting. "We must demonstrate our commitment through actions."
Gutting said he has had communications with domestic industry leaders as early as August, but no firm proposals have emerged.
Gordon, meanwhile, said he wants to keep all doors open and that there may well be opportunities for Gutting or other possible peacemakers.
NO SHRIMP COCKTAIL
Gordon maintains that importers and seafood-industry giants have a lot more at stake than immediate dollars and cents.
"If they lose this domestic industry, they will lose the biggest market they have as far as a romantic, high-end product that people think is something special to consume," he said.
"If seafood becomes a commodity like chicken, the whole seafood industry is in an enormous amount of trouble," Gordon said. "Once the American consumer knows they have been had, that it’s all frozen, that there’s no romance, no boats, that it is a commodity, the whole industry suffers. We should be all on the same wagon going the same direction."
HARD TO PROVE
An anti-dumping case, if brought, must prove to the satisfaction of the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission that the domestic industry has been seriously harmed by low-priced imports. It must also show that the imported shrimp is sold for less to the United States than it would have fetched in its own home market.
Nations accused of dumping shrimp, such as Vietnam and China, deny the practice. Their spokesmen have suggested that the U.S. industry is crying foul because of its inability to compete.
But Southern Shrimp Alliance board members say they are confident a case can be made.
George Barisich, one of two Louisiana representatives on the alliance board, said he hopes the forward direction arising from this week’s meeting will increase the desire of fishermen in his state to contribute toward money the effort.
"Louisiana holds 60 percent of the fishermen; we should carry 60 percent of the cost," Barisich said. "You know what you lost last year through the low-price regime.
"Unless the good Lord intervenes on our behalf, it will only get worse. Either fishermen should get involved and stay involved now or sell out or resign themselves to the fact that they will not be able to live the way they used to."
Senior Staff Writer John DeSantis can be reached at (985)850-1151 or
john.desantis@houmatoday.com |
