Cassidy and Hyde-Smith advocate for tariffs on shrimp imported from India | Louisiana

ards for quality and sustainability,” Cassidy said. “People should have confidence the shrimp and crawfish they see on the menu is safe, and that means knowing where it came from. That’s what this bill does.”Republican Sen. from Mississippi Cindy Hyde-Smith joined Cassidy in introducing the bill, which has backing from shrimpers in the Gulf. “Shrimp and catfish farming is a critical part of the economy in Mississippi, and my constituents deserve a level playing field,” Hyde-Smith said. “This bill will help ensure that American consumers are getting accurate information about the products they buy and support American industries that play by the rules.”Conservation groups Waterkeeper Alliance and the Mississippi River Trust also support the bill “to protect Louisiana’s shrimp industry from an onslaught of imports from polluted waters.”“Indian shrimp, as well as some other imported shrimp, is produced in high-intensity aquaculture ponds that can have devastating environmental impacts, such as water pollution, changes to water flow, and displacement of wildlife,” the organizations wrote in support of the bill. “Importing shrimp from India and other countries with lax environmental regulations can undercut American seafood producers and place our seafood industry and consumer safety at risk.”The Southern Shrimp Alliance warned that without intervention from Congress, Indian shrimp imports would once again disrupt the U.S. market.“Getting hammered by excess imports from India at the expense of our American consumers and U.S. shrimp industry is a scenario that we cannot allow to repeat itself,” the alliance said in a release. “We believe our lawmakers will listen to us and support the proposed legislation.”This bill is not the first move by Cassidy to regulate the shrimp industry. In July, Cassidy request an official review of raw shrimp from India sent to the American market that were prevented from being delivered to consumers. Louisiana State University published a report about the shipment in which they found high levels of nitrofurans, a group of antibiotics that have been banned for use in food animals in the United States for years. “The findings of the LSU study are of concern and may demonstrate a need for stricter control over the Indian shrimp industry,” Cassidy noted at the time. “Protecting American consumers and industry is of the utmost importance.”