September 17, 2023 — Gov. John Bel Edwards has requested an emergency declaration for disaster relief for Louisiana shrimpers amid a flood of foreign shrimp that has driven dockside prices to below $1 per pound.
Edwards made the request in late August at the behest of the Louisiana Shrimp Association, which penned a letter to the governor in August seeking the declaration, the first step in securing disaster relief funding for shrimpers from the federal government.
“Louisiana will be pursuing a federal fisheries disaster declaration from the U.S. Department of Commerce,” Edwards wrote to association president Acy Cooper.