Henry Barnes makes and repairs shrimp nets at his shop in Bayou La Batre. These days there's not much work to do as shrimp boat operators look to save money in a tough market.Barnes is also the mayor of Bayou La Batre, known as the Seafood Capitol of Alabama. Last year, city leaders declared an emergency due to what they call shrimp dumping or the influx of foreign produced seafood. Barnes says the city's tax revenue is down 40%.
"I've had at least 14 customers or restaurants from Florida and up the coast that are no longer purchasing a domestic product that they used to purchase and replaced it with a with Ecuador shrimp," said Ernie Anderson, owner of Graham Shrimp Company. "A person coming down visiting the coast, they walk in the restaurant, they see there's nets, fish nets, fishing boats, shrimp boats, and all over the walls outside, fresh local seafood on their signs outside, and then the menu just says shrimp or just says fish. Now this will give the consumers more information to decide," said Anderson.
Brown, R-Hollinger's Island, sponsored the legislation. It will require restaurants to tell consumers what country fish or shrimp came from and if it's farm raised or caught wild.