LAFITTE, La. (WGNO) – The emotions of Wednesday’s shrimpers rally echoed all the way to Lafitte, to the Captain of the Mister Jug shrimp boat, Ronald Dufrene.
“All my life growing up, all I’ve ever wanted was this thing I’m sitting on. It was a dream,” says Dufrene.
Shrimping has been a way of life for his family for more than a century, filling the family nets on boats built by Captain Ronald’s great grandfather and his great, great grandfather—but now Dufrene says his dream is dashed, and he’s urging his kids to steer clear.
“And it hurts my heart that they’re not here or there with me dragging with the boat, fishing together. It’s dying. We’re gonna lose this industry,” he says.
What’s more, he says the imported shrimp isn’t just cheaper; there also are issues with antibiotics and slave labor.
Louisiana shrimpers say the lower quality imports are driving prices way down, costing them a huge chunk of their income. For the captain of the Mister Jug, it was a whopping 65 percent.
“And I wasn’t looking for last year’s price, but I wasn’t looking for 1970’s price. That was a 1970’s price that we unloaded for this past trip,” says Dufrene, who acknowledges that imports are needed to meet the overall demand for shrimp, but urges consumers to buy local—and domestic—first.
