Troy E. Nehls
01/30/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/30/2026 13:09
Rep. Troy E. Nehls in The Hill: Congress has the chance to help save the US shrimping industry
Today, Congressman Troy E. Nehls (R-TX-22) penned an op-ed in The Hill, calling on Congress to pass his legislation, the Save Our Shrimpers Act, which would prohibit federal funds from being made available to International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to finance any activity relating to shrimp farming, shrimp processing, or the export of shrimp from any foreign country to the United States. Additionally, his legislation would trigger an investigation within the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) and require annual reports to Congress to what extent U.S. Executive Directors at IFIs comply with USC 262(h).
In the op-ed, Congressman Nehls discusses how, through the use of American tax dollars, the American shrimping industry has fallen behind foreign shrimp production, and how, for the first time in history, the United States Treasury Department voted against funding a shrimp aquaculture project at an IFI. Congressman Nehls highlights the need for Congress to permanently stop American tax dollars from subsidizing foreign shrimp farming and operations by passing his legislation, the Save Our Shrimpers Act.
Read the op-ed HERE or below:
"In 2000, Texas was home to more than 2,500 licensed commercial shrimpers. Today, it is home to less than 1,000. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries for the Gulf of America, there are only 1,467 federally permitted vessels in the entire Gulf of America.
Domestic shrimp contributed to approximately 50 percent of U.S. consumption in the 1980s. Now, imported, foreign shrimp accounts for more than 90 percent of the shrimp consumed in the United States, with domestic shrimp accounting for just 4 percent -10 percent of consumption.
You may be wondering what happened to the nation's once prosperous shrimping industry. In 1980, the United States imported approximately 250 million pounds of shrimp. In 2024, the U.S. imported around 1.67 billion pounds of shrimp, with most of it coming from India, Ecuador and Indonesia. It is widely known that shrimp imported into our country are not wild-caught - they are shrimp grown on farms or hatcheries that use child labor and are ridden with dangerous working conditions.
Since the 1970s, multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the United Nations have provided hundreds of millions of dollars in support of foreign shrimp operations in Asia and Latin America, including Ecuador, India and Belize, with Ecuador receiving the most financial aid.
In fact, between 1980 through 2000, the World Bank contributed over $950 million in loans to support shrimp aquaculture in Ecuador. The United States has executive directors representing our country and domestic industries at these multilateral institutions and is the most significant funder of these organizations. U.S. law requires U.S. executive directors at international financial institutions to vote against funding any project to produce or extract any commodity for export that would cause harm to U.S. producers of the same commodity or if there is a global surplus of that commodity.
Unfortunately, U.S. executive directors at these international financial institutions have historically disregarded this statute, which is intended to protect domestic producers like America's shrimpers.
However, in April 2025, for the first time in history, the U.S. voted against funding a shrimp aquaculture project at an international financial institution.
While I appreciate the U.S. Treasury Department finally standing up for American shrimpers by voting against an Asian Development Bank project to fund $150 million in Thai shrimp production, this "no" vote was long overdue. For far too long, American tax dollars have been bank rolling foreign shrimp production, to the demise of our own shrimping industry.
Enough is enough.
For the last two congresses, I have proudly introduced the Save Our Shrimpers Act, legislation which would prohibit federal funds from being made available to international financial institutions to finance any activity relating to shrimp farming, shrimp processing, or the export of shrimp from any foreign country to the U.S. My legislation would also trigger a Government Accountability Office investigation and require annual reports to Congress outlining to what extent U.S. representatives at international financial institutions comply with existing law.
We need to completely turn off the money tap that has been using hard-working American tax dollars to bankroll foreign shrimp production while America's shrimpers are struggling to stay afloat.
It is imperative that Congress passes my bill, the Save Our Shrimpers Act, expeditiously so that American shrimpers have the chance to survive. We need to codify my bill into permanent law, so that American shrimpers are protected, regardless of who occupies the White House.
I'm calling on Congress to do the right thing and to move my America First legislation so that American shrimpers can continue to do what they love for generations to come."
Troy E. Nehls published this content on January 30, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on January 30, 2026 at 19:09 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]