PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Southeast Texas shrimpers are fighting to protect their livelihoods amid shrimp dumping.
Shrimp dumping involves the heavy import of foreign shrimp that gets "dumped" into the American market.
Now, the United States International Trade Commission wants shrimpers to fill out a questionnaire and document their struggles.
The U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission started investigating shrimp dumping after a petition was filed last year.
On Tuesday, a meeting was held at the International Seafarer Center in Port Arthur. It was filled with dozens of shrimpers eager to learn about what is happening with their fight against foreign shrimp import dumping.
"I've lived my whole life in Port Arthur, my uncles, my fathers, great uncles. My whole family we've always been in the shrimping industry," said Binh Han, a fishing boat owner.
For the Han brothers of Port Arthur, shrimping has fed their families for decades. But lately, the future has looked dim.
"It's pretty tough we're actually digging out of a hole right now, as we speak. We didn't see any profitability for the last maybe year and a half," Han said.
At Tuesday's meeting, fishermen listened to legislative updates about a petition they submitted last year to the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission about shrimp dumping being investigated.
"And that's the reason why I came here today. To see if there's going to be any progress," Han told 12News.
The progress comes in the form of a questionnaire. Shrimpers get to share their struggles on how imported shrimp from Ecuador, India, Indonesia and Vietnam are driving local shrimpers out of business.
“We’ll catch it, and it cost us with the regulations the fuel, the diesels, just operating costs. It’s just so much more. To have another country dump their shrimp at less than half, or even at a fraction of what it costs us to catch it it’s just really frustrating. And that was eating into any possibility," said Han.
Representatives for the Port Arthur Shrimpers Association say this questionnaire gives them hope.
"In a generation from now that they'll still be proud fishermen sailing out of our ports of Port Arthur and Sabine Pass and bringing home and harvesting fresh wild caught shrimp," said Sinclair Oubre, Secretary of PA Shrimpers Association.
The questionnaire is due July 26 and you can find it here. Click the first link and it will download a word doc that you can fill out.