Rep. Nehls Reintroduces the Save Our Shrimpers Act

The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) Seafood March 13, 2025

Representative Troy Nehls (R-TX-22), alongside a bipartisan group of co-sponsors, re-introduced the Save Our Shrimpers Act of 2025 (SOS Act). Supported by the U.S. shrimp industry, this legislation aims to prohibit U.S. taxpayer funds from being used by international financial institutions to support foreign shrimp farming, processing, or exports. It also mandates an investigation and annual report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to ensure U.S. Executive Directors at IFIs are fulfilling their duty to oppose such financing.

The proposed legislation responds to the troubling findings by the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), which exposed that billions of dollars have been used to finance shrimp aquaculture development abroad, flooding the global market with excess shrimp supply, driving wholesale prices down, and severely harming U.S. shrimpers. 

“The U.S. Treasury has allowed—even supported—funding of foreign shrimp companies that directly compete with our own. Now, the oversupply of shrimp caused by these foreign development projects is drowning multigenerational family shrimping businesses, which are rapidly failing across the Southeast,” said John Williams, executive director of SSA.“We deeply appreciate the leadership of Representative Nehls and the bill’s co-sponsors for demanding that federal funds no longer be used to harm U.S. shrimp fishermen.”

Investments Correlate with Surplus Supply

IFI-financing of shrimp aquaculture has been concentrated in India and Ecuador, which supply nearly 70% of all U.S. shrimp imports and are the largest competitors to the U.S. shrimp industry. The total number of shrimp and aquaculture projects increased significantly in the past decade, pumping billions of dollars into foreign shrimp production.

For example, since 2000, private Ecuadorian shrimp producers and exporters have received at least $195 million in development funding for shrimp aquaculture for eight projects, fueling a staggering 150% increase in Ecuadorian shrimp exports to the U.S. in four years—adding another 264 million pounds of imported shrimp to the U.S. market. Similar IFI funding has benefited shrimp industries in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and other nations, leading to a global oversupply that has driven wholesale shrimp prices to historic lows.

During a period where prices for most goods have been characterized by significant inflation, the per pound value of shrimp imports into the United States fell by 15% from 2022 to 2024, from $4.28 to $3.62 per pound. As a result, American shrimpers—most of which are multi-generational, family-owned businesses—are facing financial devastation. According to NOAA Fisheries, the total value of U.S. shrimp fishermen’s catch plummeted from $522 million in 2021 to $268 million in 2023, remaining near this level in 2024. The rapid collapse of shrimp prices has forced many American shrimpers out of business, leaving others tied to the dock. Ironically, the price to consumers has increased during the same time period, according to the Sustainability Incubator.

Funding Continues Despite Growing Resistance

Existing federal law requires U.S. representatives to oppose IFI investments that create an excess supply and harm domestic industries under the Surplus Commodities Rule. But the U.S. rarely opposes international financial institution funding. U.S. representatives have only objected to 880 loans out of 28,000 votes since 2004.

In June 2024, the U.S. Treasury explicitly referenced the Surplus Commodities Rule for the first time in twenty years of published voting on a vote regarding a steel development project that would contribute to further excess production of another commodity. Yet, more must be done to ensure the U.S. Treasury opposes future funding of shrimp aquaculture, which benefited from another project the U.S. supported earlier that same month.

Demanding Accountability

In November 2024, Representative James Comer (R-KY), Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Representative Clay Higgins (R-LA), and Representative Troy Nehls (R-TX) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) formally requesting that the GAO investigate Treasury’s efforts to adhere to the requirements. 

Last week, Senator Cassidy (R-LA) called upon Secretary Bessent to take all necessary actions to prevent any future funding of shrimp aquaculture development, which would exacerbate the financial crisis facing U.S. shrimpers.

The re-introduction of the SOS Act, supported by 16 Members of Congress, seeks to codify the restriction of U.S. support of shrimp aquaculture investments through IFIs into law and add much-needed accountability requirements. The legislation is co-led by Representative Clay Higgins (R-LA-03), Representative Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-34), and Representative Troy Carter (D-LA-02). Original cosponsors of the Save Our Shrimpers Act of 2025 include Representatives Nancy Mace (R-SC-01), Randy Weber (R-TX-14), Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12), Julia Letlow (R-LA-05), Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL-13), Greg Murphy (R-NC-03), Mike Ezell (R-MS-04), John Rutherford (FL-05), Byron Donalds (R-FL-19), Barry Moore (R-AL-01), Brian Babin (R-TX-36), and Michael Cloud (R-TX-27). 

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About the Southern Shrimp Alliance

The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) is an organization of shrimp fishermen, shrimp processors, and other members of the domestic industry in the eight warmwater shrimp producing states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.

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