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Issue link: https://seafoodbusiness.epubxp.com/i/112398
Top Story the domestic industry thinks it���s going to do,��� says Matt Fass, president of seafood importer Maritime Products International (MPI) in Newport News, Va. ���Tey want higher prices; they think that���s what���s going to save them.��� COGSI, which claims to represent the majority of the domestic shrimp industry, has made a strong-enough case thus far. Tree weeks after its petition reached the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and the Department of Commerce (DOC), the federal agencies found su���cient reason to investigate 117 of 133 alleged warm-water shrimp subsidy programs in the aforementioned countries. ���Te Gulf shrimp community can compete with shrimp industries located anywhere in the world, but we can no longer compete with the deep pockets of foreign governments,��� says Edward Hayes, legal counsel for COGSI and partner at New Orleans law ���rm Leake Anderson. Tere are 31 companies that belong to COGSI. whatsoever.��� Connelly is quick to point out that little has changed in shrimp import trends since 2009, the time period under federal investigation: U.S. shrimp imports have remained relatively ���at, hovering between 1.1 ���I���m very disappointed in a U.S. industry that���s ceased to try to improve its own business. They won���t innovate anymore and they blame other people for not being able to compete.��� ��� Eric Bloom, president, Eastern Fish Co. Te subsidy allegations might not be di���cult to prove in a court of law, some experts say, even though CVD suits against nonmarket economies are rare. Warren Connelly, partner of Washington, D.C., law ���rm Akin Gump, says even if subsidy programs are identi���ed the relief provided won���t make ���any di���erence billion pounds and 1.3 billion pounds, for the past eight years. In fact, U.S. shrimp imports declined 7 percent in 2012, as importers brought in 1.17 billion pounds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration���s Fisheries Service. ���Experience teaches that these allegations tend to be dramatically overstated, which is what you do if you���re the petitioners��� lawyers,��� says Connelly, who represents Ecuador���s National Chamber of Aquaculture, a trade association of shrimp processors, and the government of Ecuador. ���I suspect the subsidy margins are going to be low or nonexistent.��� Greg Rushford, editor and publisher of the online international trade journal Te Rushford Report, agrees that tari��� rates from CVD suits aren���t usually signi���cant. He fears it���s not in the domestic industry���s best interests to pursue the case ��� a longterm niche-marketing strategy would be more productive, he argues. ���It���s just sad. Te petition is so ���imsy,��� he says. ���It���s a shakedown. Tey should have learned back in 2000 that they were 50 years out of date.���