BILOXI, Miss. — The American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA) strongly condemns the proposed settlement and revocation of the antidumping order on imported shrimp from Thailand. ASPA believes that the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), the purported representative of the domestic shrimp industry, is selling out the American shrimp industry to Thailand in order to make a quick buck.
SSA and the Thai Frozen Foods Association (TFFA) announced a settlement proposal on November 2, 2009. The announcement provided no details on the amount of money SSA would receive in the settlement or what SSA would do with the money received in the settlement. SSA and TFFA filed a joint request for a changed circumstances review at the Department of Commerce on November 12, 2009 to effectuate the proposed settlement. ASPA immediately filed its opposition and the Department of Commerce rejected the request on November 18, 2009, finding that the SSA does not represent substantially all of the domestic shrimp industry.
SSA is continuing to seek support for its settlement efforts and has engaged in a relentless informational campaign in Louisiana and the Gulf South. SSA has circulated documents supposedly describing the amounts available under the settlement, but has fallen short of describing how the money would be distributed under the settlement. According to a recent story on Seafood.com, an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service, SSA previously settled certain administrative review requests in exchange for payments purportedly as high as $18,000,000.00. To ASPAs knowledge, SSA has not distributed any of that $18,000,000.00 directly to its members or to the domestic industry. According to SSAs non-profit tax forms filed with the IRS, it paid out $6,456,000.00 in legal fees for 2007 and 2008. According to John Sackton at Seafood.com, SSA is on track to have exhausted its funds by 2010 and is in need of additional funds to perpetuate its existence.
SSAs campaign to seek support for the proposed settlement includes flyers that suggest the industry would only receive $60,000,000.00 through Byrd distributions on entries from Thailand, while a minimum of $100,000,000.00 would be available for distribution through a settlement. ASPA strongly disagrees with SSAs figures. ASPA estimates that the amount available to the industry is as high as $117,000,000.00, the approximate amount contained in Customs and Border Protections current account balance, subject to a slight potential reduction based on pending administrative reviews and litigation. Also, under SSAs proposed settlement, the United States government would forfeit roughly $120,000,000.00 in funds that would otherwise go to the Treasury. That money would be refunded to the Thailand entities under the proposed settlement. ASPA is working closely with its Congressional representatives to make sure that the money stays here to help our domestic shrimp industry. Amazingly, the proposed settlement is being considered at a time when Thailand reportedly has major stockpiles of excess shrimp capacity that will soon flood the US market without the protection of the antidumping duties, causing even more harm to the domestic shrimp industry.
Our market is already in dire straits due to continued unfair trade practices by some of our trading partners, said David Veal, Executive Director of ASPA. Removing the order on shrimp from Thailand will further depress our market at a time when harvesters and processors are fighting for market share and reasonable prices, he added. At this time of economic hardship, it is more important than ever that everyone in the shrimp industry commit to its long-term viability and refuse to sell ourselves out for a quick payment.
Assisting SSA in its efforts to obtain the proposed settlement is the lobbying firm of former Senators John Breaux and Trent Lott. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks lobbying fees and federal campaign contributions, the Breaux-Lott group has reported lobbying income of $515,000.00 from SSA for 2007 and 2008. SSA also reportedly agreed to pay Breaux-Lott $1,000,000.00 if the Thai settlement is successfully brokered. ASPA believes that the two former Senators are more interested in lining their pockets with lobbying fees than serving their friends and former constituents in the Gulf South.
Source: American Shrimp Processors Association