The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) Strengthens Its Team with New Deputy Director
August 18, 2025 | 4 min to read
The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) has appointed Blake Price as its new Deputy Director to enhance advocacy for the U.S. shrimp industry. This new role will strengthen communication with shrimp fishermen across eight member states, enabling improved collaboration and representation. Price, with extensive experience as a fisheries biologist and a commitment to sustainable practices, aims to unite the industry and tackle challenges. SSA's initiatives will raise public awareness about shrimp production issues and advocate for the industry's future.
The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) is proud to announce the creation of a new Deputy Director position and the addition of Blake Price to fill this vital role. The new leadership structure aims to improve communication and coordination with shrimp fishermen, strengthen strategic partnerships with external groups, and provide another dedicated, full-time advocate for the U.S. shrimp industry during this challenging and opportunity-filled time.
Boots on the Ground
SSA is making a strong commitment to working face-to-face with shrimpers in all eight member states. The new role allows for significantly more visits to the docks and community meetings. We aim to ensure your voices are heard when decisions are made about our industry, and we see the need to improve two-way communication on the many critical issues facing the industry and the wide range of actions being taken.
Blake, who married into a multigenerational North Carolina shrimping family, has a long career of collaborating with shrimpers and representing their interests as a fisheries biologist. In previous roles with the National Marine Fisheries Service, he researched, tested, and improved fishing gear in collaboration with fishermen. In this capacity, he has already worked with shrimpers in each state and fishery regulators, gaining a strong understanding of the industry’s sustainability and fisheries management laws and regulations. He has also worked to reduce disparities between the environmental practices required of U.S. shrimpers and those of foreign producers as the coordinator of the State Department’s enforcement of gear requirements for foreign countries under Section 609 (Public Law 101-162).
“SSA is making a clear statement with this new position that we’re serious about representing every shrimper from Texas to North Carolina. We are making an investment to increase SSA’s accessibility, adding boots on the ground beyond our volunteer Board representatives,” said Leann Bosarge, who chaired the search committee for SSA’s Board. “It will be great to have another full-time industry advocate representing American shrimping interests at this critical time and we are confident that Blake will be an influential industry representative.”
Building Stronger Alliances
One of the most exciting aspects of the new position is how it will enhance our ability to work with other state shrimp association counterparts, fishing organizations, and groups that share our goals. The wild-caught shrimp industry is stronger when we work alongside other commercial fishermen, seafood organizations, and industry allies. When we speak with a unified voice alongside others, politicians and regulators are compelled to listen and act.
Blake will focus on leveraging existing and building new relationships with government agencies, elected officials, other fisheries organizations, and industry leaders.
“I’m passionate about preserving the shrimper’s way of life, our coastal communities, and access to superior-tasting seafood,” said Blake Price, SSA’s new deputy director. “I don’t just want to save the livelihoods of those remaining in the shrimp industry, but to see investment and growth that incentivizes the next generation of fishermen. To do this, we need a large, well-coordinated team that is using the same playbook.”
Expanding Reach and Impact
The new hire is the latest step in positioning the U.S. shrimp industry to be heard by larger audiences. New investments in public relations have brought issues of unethical production overseas and the substantial impact on our industry and coastal communities to the national stage, involving every SSA Board member and additional industry advocates. SSA’s recent investment in genetic testing of shrimp dishes in restaurants is bringing consumer awareness (and outrage) of false advertising and supporting state labeling laws. Our ongoing efforts to compile databases, such as those on antibiotic refusals, international financial institution funding of shrimp aquaculture, and the U.S. shrimp industry’s sustainable fishing practices, have laid the groundwork for proposed legislative and regulatory changes that would benefit U.S. shrimpers.
SSA’s staff expansion comes at a critical time. There is a new energy and opportunities for the shrimp industry to address counterproductive trade policies, remove unnecessary regulatory pressures, and raise consumer awareness of the seafood they are eating. Blake will help ensure shrimpers understand the shifting landscape and have a voice in shaping the future as SSA works with a wide variety of partners to preserve the long-term viability of one of our nation’s most valuable fisheries.
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.