For the past several years all was well with gulf coast seafood producers. But in National Shrimp festival this year has drawn as many as 300,000 people to the Alabama coast. A new agreement with the festival is a small victory for an industry that is fighting a losing battle against cheaper foreign imports and soaring fuel costs. Rosa Zirlott, a spokeswoman for the Organized Seafood Association of Alabama, states that they are going to give the other vendors a chance to buy local shrimp, and they will be able to buy a certification that they are serving locally caught shrimp.
According to fishermen and seafood merchants in coastal Alabama, much of the seafood sold in restaurants there comes from overseas. The rising tide of imports mainly affected the shrimpers with soaring fuel prices adding the woes. Billy Parks, third-generation owner of the Bon Secour seafood market Billy’s Seafood, said they used to unload 30 to 40 boats, and now they are down to four or five boats.
It is fact that foreign suppliers, particularly in China and Southeast Asia, have flooded the U.S. markets with cheaper seafood, much of it produced in farms. The Fish Market’s Sarris said he believes the worries about foreign fish being laced with hormones and antibiotics are overblown. He added that there is no avoiding the international market. Mark Berson, president and CEO of the Alabama Gulf Coast Area Chamber of Commerce, told that the National Shrimp Festival started 37 years ago with music and local merchants setting up tents and selling food.
