{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/gulf-shrimpers-see-long-awaited-moment-federal-seafood-labeling-laws", "Gulf shrimpers see long-awaited moment on federal seafood labeling laws", "2025-11-24", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Cindy Hyde-Smith", "H001079", "www.hydesmith.senate.gov", "hydesmith", "https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/newsroom", "scraper", "VIDEO\n\nBy Justin Glowacki, McKenna Klamm, Michelle Pinto and RHCJC News\n\nGULFPORT \u2014 Mississippi commercial fishermen say years of pushing lawmakers for tougher import and labeling rules are finally translating into national policy proposals \u2014 including a federal bill from U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith that would require clearer labeling on seafood. The measure follows state-level reforms along the Gulf Coast and comes as shrimpers warn domestic producers are struggling to compete with cheaper, foreign imports.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve certainly seen some attention the last couple of years,\u201d said Ryan Bradley, executive director of Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United. \u201cThey\u2019re hearing the alarm bells from not only our organization but many organizations all around the country about the dire straits that our seafood industry is in.\u201d\n\nBradley, a fifth-generation commercial fisherman, said fishermen have spent years urging officials to address uneven competition with foreign imports, market regulations and the loss of local access to natural resources.\n\n\u201cOur seafood industry, all around the country, (is impacted) due to a number of issues \u2014 the globalization with the imports, the lack of young fishermen coming into these fisheries,\u201d Bradley said.\n\nBlake Price, deputy director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, said renewed attention comes only after the industry reached a breaking point.\n\n\u201cIt's very unfortunate that it\u2019s taken the industry being on the brink of collapse for this awareness to be made,\u201d Price said. \u201c(But awareness) is greatly welcomed and long overdue.\u201d\n\nState-level reforms lay groundwork for national policy push\n\nA major change this year came with Mississippi House Bill 602, which took effect on July 1 and requires restaurants, seafood markets and wholesalers to label seafood as either domestic or imported. Enforcement is split between the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and the Department of Agriculture.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen an increase in demand for our local wild-caught products,\u201d Bradley said.\n\nPrice said customers in states that adopt strong labeling laws see better transparency.\n\n\u201cWhere labeling laws exist, most restaurants are compliant, and customers are getting local domestic seafood,\u201d he said. \u201cWhere labeling laws don\u2019t exist, that\u2019s when we\u2019re at 70% (of restaurants mislabeling foreign seafood as domestic).\u201d\n\nAt the federal level, the most recent proposal can in October, when Hyde-Smith filled the Let Americans Buy with Explicit Labeling (LABEL) Act. The bill would require seafood sold in stores to list country of origin and production method in the same font size as the product name, expanding visibility beyond existing requirements.\n\nThe measure is part of a growing slate of federal proposals aimed at import enforcement, safety standards and trade policy \u2014 momentum Price said reflects national acknowledgement of pressure from coastal states like Mississippi.\n\n\u201cI don't recall another administration really taking a look, and that\u2019s from the top down,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got an administration that understands the importance of American products and jobs.\u201d\n\nOther federal efforts introduced this year include:\n\nSafer Shrimp Imports Act: Blocks imports from countries without U.S. inspection standards.\n\nSave Our Shrimpers Act: Prohibits federal funding from supporting foreign shrimp farms.\n\nIndia Shrimp Tariff Act: Imposes escalating tariffs on shrimp from India.\n\nDestruction of Hazardous Imports Act: Gives the FDA authority to destroy unsafe seafood shipments.\n\nImported Seafood Quality Enforcement Act: Requires inspections and penalties for repeated food safety violations.\n\nImported Seafood Safety Standards Act: Creates a fund to increase inspection and consumption of U.S. shrimp products.\n\nThe proposals align with Executive Order 14276 to reform \u201coverregulated fisheries,\u201d expand domestic processing and strengthen seafood trade enforcement.\n\nMarket rebounds as enforcement gains traction\n\nBradley and Price credit the legislative momentum with helping to lift shrimp prices in 2025 \u2014 a much-needed shift after years of historic lows.\n\n\u201cShrimp prices are up thanks to some of that action,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cThe guys are catching some nice shrimp right now, actually, and getting a good price for them.\u201d\n\nPrice said tariffs have narrowed pricing gaps between imported and domestic seafood.\n\n\u201cThey have great potential to provide much-needed relief and create an even and fair market for our U.S. commercial shrimp industry ... across the board of commercial seafood industries,\u201d Price said. \u201cIt's not just the fishermen, the captains, the crew, the folks working at the fish house and at distribution centers. Our local and regional coastal economies were built upon this.\u201d\n\nWith multiple bills pending and enforcement still ramping up, fisherman say progress depends on sustained action.\n\n\u201cTo introduce things is nice and all, but it\u2019s better to get it passed,\u201d Bradley said.\n\nPrice agreed and said swift legislative action could stabilize the domestic seafood industry.\n\n\u201cEnacting a few key pieces of legislation in the near term could provide short- and long-term relief for our industries and really crank up the market, which it deserves,\u201d he said.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/gulf-shrimpers-see-long-awaited-moment-federal-seafood-labeling-laws"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.577309962362051, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}