Twenty-three American seafood organizations – representing fishermen, shrimpers, dockside facilities and processors – have formally asked United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Jamieson Greer to launch a broad investigation into unfair seafood trade practices. The letter, sent on May 19, 2026, emphasizes the need for quick action.
By the Numbers
Foreign seafood already dominates the US market and its market share is increasing:
• Seafood imports grew 10% in volume between 2019 and 2025 (from 5.8 billion to 6.4 billion pounds).
• US commercial landings dropped almost 18% in volume over the same period (from 9.4 billion to 7.72 billion pounds in 2024).
• Between 2021 and 2024, the value of edible seafood imports rose by $3.1 billion, while the value of US commercial landings fell by $1.6 billion – a nearly 25% decline.
According to a press release from the New Port Richey, Florida-headquartered Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA): “Unfairly traded foreign seafood is not simply growing US demand for seafood – it’s forcing American fishermen and aquaculturists out of business, substantially reducing US seafood production and devastating rural communities throughout the country.”
The Ask
Domestic seafood producers want the USTR to investigate unfair practices in seafood trade under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a law that allows the US to implement trade measures to respond to discriminatory practices by trading partners. By addressing unfair trade – including dumping, subsidies, environmental harm, reliance on banned veterinary drugs, false labeling and species designations, utilization of fishing gear banned in the US, structural excess capacity, and labor abuse – American seafood production can increase significantly and quickly.
“The U.S market for seafood is dominated by cheap, unfairly traded imports,” said Blake Price, director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “It is rapidly forcing American fishermen and fish farmers out of business, eliminating our country’s ability to produce healthy, high-quality protein. Domestic seafood producers urgently need the Trump Administration to use Section 301 authority to give us a fighting chance.”
The May 19th letter was signed by a broad spectrum of organizations across the country representing or supporting American seafood producers, commercial fishermen, shrimpers, dockside facilities, and processing plants, as listed below:
1 American Shrimp Association
2 American Shrimp Processors Association
3 Apostleship of the Sea – Diocese of Beaumont
4 Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America
5 California Sea Urchin Commission
6 California Pelagic Fisheries Association
7 Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association
8 Fishing Communities Coalition
9 Gulf of America Reef Shareholders’ Alliance
10 Hawaii Longline Association
11 Louisiana Shrimp Association
12 Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United, Inc..
13 North American Marine Alliance
14 North Carolina Fisheries Association
15 Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission
16 Oregon Trawl Commission
17 Port Arthur International Seafarers’ Center
18 Port Arthur Area Shrimper’s Association
19 Shrimp Producers Marketing Cooperative (SPMC);
20 Southeastern Fisheries Association
21 South Carolina Shrimpers Association
22 Southern Shrimp Alliance;
23 Texas Shrimp Association
Increasing Calls for a Section 301 Investigation on Seafood
The May 19th letter from industry representatives to the USTR followed a May 11th letter from 20 members of Congress making the same request. Last summer, the Oregon Trawl Commission was joined by the Southern Shrimp Alliance and several members of the crawfish industry (Riceland Crawfish Inc., Bieber Farms Crawfish, Inc., Acadia Crawfish Co., LLC, and Deshotels Crawfish Farms, LLC) in a request to the USTR for the initiation of a Section 301 investigation focused on the use of veterinary drugs in farm-raised seafood production in China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
The requests to utilize Section 301 authority to address issues with seafood trade stem from President Trump’s April 2025 Executive Order, Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness, directing the USTR to “examine the relevant trade practices of major seafood-producing nations, including with regard to IUU fishing and the use of forced labor in the seafood supply chain, and consider appropriate responses, including pursuing solutions through negotiations or trade enforcement authorities, such as under section 301. More recently, Ambassador Greer issued a statement in February indicating that the USTR expects to initiate several Section 301 investigations, including an inquiry into “practices related to the trade in seafood.
