From Deseret News archives:
Shrimp controversy has big impact on Utah
Sorry for those puns. It was very shellfish of me.
Anyway, the situation started when shrimp boaters in the southern United States claimed unfair trade by shrimp producers in Asia and Latin America.
Most foreign shrimp is not caught in the open sea as it is in America. Almost all of it is now raised in "shrimp farms" in pools near the ocean — which producers say is much more efficient and economical. The practice has never caught on in America, where oceanfront property is expensive.
Because farm-fed shrimp is cheaper, it now accounts for almost 90 percent of shrimp sold in the United States — and has turned what was once a luxury for the rich into a common, affordable treat. It also has made life hard on U.S. shrimp boaters.
The favorite food for farm-raised shrimp just happens to be brine shrimp eggs. That has made harvesting them in the Great Salt Lake a surprisingly big industry, with an average $50 million a year in sales by 22 companies employing about 500 Utahns.
Tim Bridgewater, a candidate for the 2nd District House seat who is also spokesman for the Utah Artemia (brine shrimp) Association, says if U.S. shrimp boaters win their trade claim, it could lead to tariffs on imported shrimp — raising their prices and cutting demand. That in turn would cut demand for Utah brine shrimp and cut Utah jobs.
Bridgewater's group is part of a coalition, the Shrimp Task Force — including groups representing restaurants, food stores, seafood processors and consumer groups — who say the Commerce Department is considering some unfair ways to decide whether foreign shrimp producers are guilty of "dumping."
Normally, Commerce would define that as selling a product in America for less than it is sold in the home country. The trouble is, places such as Thailand do not sell frozen shrimp. It is only sold fresh there.
So Commerce is considering using as a proxy for it the price of such shrimp sold in Japan. But shrimp in Japan are usually sold with the head and shell still on, while shrimp sold in America are processed to remove those.
The Commerce Department is considering trying to adjust the U.S. prices by essentially putting their heads and shells back on, and uncooking them, too. The Shrimp Task Force calls that creating fictional "Frankenshrimp" to compare prices.
