Gulf shrimpers want help from congress as fuel costs climb

PORT SULPHUR, La. — Acy Cooper faced a unique challenge when he completed his new 31-foot trawler: his wife had recently given birth to their daughter. Adhering to the tradition of naming boats after women, he found a creative solution by combining his daughter's first name with his wife's middle name, resulting in the name Lacy Kay, established in 1983.

For over 40 years, the Lacy Kay served as the primary vessel in Cooper's three-boat fleet, successfully catching vast quantities of shrimp from the Gulf. However, the situation has drastically changed this year.

Currently, the Lacy Kay remains docked in Venice, Louisiana, about an hour's drive from Port Sulphur. Cooper is now piloting rented boats to transport oil rig workers to and from offshore platforms. Since beginning his shrimping career at the age of 15 alongside his father, he is now adapting to employment under someone else.

"I'm making money," Cooper remarked. "Not what I would be making, but you do what you have to do."

Cooper took this secondary job to supplement his income, as his fuel expenses surged by more than 50% within three months.

Diesel prices skyrocketed from approximately $3.50 per gallon to over $5 by spring. This surge was fueled by the ongoing conflict with Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz. For shrimpers, already working with narrow profit margins, this spike poses not merely a nuisance but a vital threat to their livelihood.

"You can't earn enough during the shrimp season to sustain yourself," Cooper stated, snacking on a chicken wing at the marina in Port Sulphur during breaks between his transport duties. "Thus, we must find additional means to support our existence."

To break even, Cooper estimates he must catch at least a thousand pounds of shrimp each trip, a challenging task this season. He noted that a cold front in May pushed many shrimp into deeper waters, and decades of coastal erosion have eliminated the marshland that previously provided refuge for these crustaceans.

Even when shrimp are present, dock prices have plummeted. The U.S. market has become inundated with imported shrimp, predominantly farmed in countries such as India and Ecuador. By 2023, these imports comprised over 90% of American shrimp consumption, leading to a drastic decline in the U.S. Gulf fleet's share of the domestic market, from nearly 30% in 1984 to a mere 4.5% in 2023, according to NOAA reports.

When adjusted for inflation, dockside prices have fallen from over six dollars a pound four decades ago to under two dollars in 2023, marking an unprecedented low. Gulf shrimp revenue has more than halved from $489 million in 2021 to just $221 million in 2023.

These harsh economic realities indicate that independent shrimpers like Cooper are increasingly rare. While Louisiana boasted nearly 20,000 shrimpers in the mid-1980s, today, that number is under 1,400.

Blake Price, director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, which advocates for commercial shrimpers across North Carolina to Texas, mentioned that the industry was struggling even before this year's fuel crisis.

"This industry could handle increased fuel costs much more effectively if our markets were strong and not saturated with foreign, farm-raised products," Price explained.

Price noted that there were signs of improvement last year, when tariffs imposed by President Trump on imported shrimp offered a temporary boost—until those tariffs were overturned by the Supreme Court. Dockside prices were beginning to rise, prompting some shrimpers to reinvest in their vessels in anticipation of a successful spring.

Then fuel costs surged again. Large offshore freezer boats operating in the Gulf can consume between 9,000 and 12,000 gallons of diesel for a single 30-day trip. Price recounted an Alabama operator who reported spending $47,000 on fuel before even departing the dock—$20,000 more than the previous year.

Shrimpers are calling on Washington for assistance, advocating for legislation designed to halt U.S. taxpayer subsidies for foreign shrimp aquaculture that competes directly with American fishermen. The Save Our Shrimpers Act has successfully passed the House and is presently awaiting Senate deliberation.

The USDA has recently established a new Office of Seafood, leading Price to hope for the development of assistance programs that have long been accessible to land-based agriculture but previously unavailable to the fishing sector.

"We're not requesting handouts or cash payments," Price asserted. "We simply seek a fair playing field."

Cooper, who voted for President Trump and supports the administration's broader objectives—including its approach to Iran—expressed his desire for Washington to take immediate action.

"Help us with these fuel prices," he urged. "We're farmers of the sea. We need a safety net when crises arise, so we can also be taken care of."

For the time being, the Lacy Kay will remain moored at the Venice dock, awaiting a change in circumstances and a favorable economic environment.