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Flicking heads off shrimp is one of the first jobs you learn when you’re born a Davis.
Joseph “Jody” Davis remembers filling up a bucket of beheaded shrimp for his grandmother for a quarter when he was just 4 years old. “It wasn’t bad money in the ’70s,” he said, standing on the dock of Davis Seafood, the family business in Sneads Ferry.
His 25-year-old daughter, Hannah, swiftly beheads a just-caught batch for a customer order. Muscle memory fills the bin.
“We’ve been at this exact spot since 1949,” he said. “But we’ve been commercial fishermen for centuries.”
His relatives own the entire cul-de-sac peninsula down Davis Road, overlooking the mouth of the New River. The views are pristine and the homes are humble.
Freshly painted shrimp nets hang drying on century-old live oaks. A hand-welded boat-in-progress towers over a nearby marsh-front lot. Tools and trinkets dot the yards (much to his wife’s chagrin, Davis noted).
The Davis Seafood office door is decorated with two stickers bearing the same mantra: “FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS EAT IMPORTED SHRIMP.”
Customers notice it and laugh. “But it’s more than just comedy,” Davis said. “It’s a way of life for us. And if people just cast us aside, we’re done.”
That day, the family was expecting their boats back by the afternoon. The trip was governed by the tide because of buildup in the inlet that’s long overdue for dredging. “It’s like everything is against us,” said Buddy Davis, Davis’ 82-year-old dad, who still tinkers around the property.
If shrimpers like the Davises hope to pass their tradition on to the next generation, something big has to change—and soon. The economics are making less sense, and if no one intervenes, shrimpers may be forced to pivot.
Feeding the Bottom Line
The shrimp industry is experiencing an existential threat.
In recent years, shrimpers have warned of a near-catastrophic collapse in the domestic industry as imported products decimate the market.
American shrimpers profess a slew of ethical concerns with imports. There’s evidence of forced labor and human trafficking in various countries. Then there are the environmental issues, like mangrove deforestation from shrimp farming—erasing critical natural defenses to tsunamis and other disasters. Plus, there are health concerns, with American inspectors frequently detecting banned antibiotics in imported shrimp at the border.
“It’s like everything is against us.”
Buddy Davis, 82-year-old shrimper
While there’s been some progress on the national front to disincentivize bad behavior overseas, domestic shrimp advocates say regulators with the power to intervene have been too slow or too lenient.
Behind blue crabs, shrimp is the second-most commercially harvested seafood in North Carolina, with a total $10 million dockside value in 2022—a measure of what seafood dealers pay before it’s sold wholesale. But that’s chump change. In the ’80s and ’90s, shrimpers were easily fetching $30 million at the dock.
Local dockside shrimp prices have been slipping in North Carolina for decades, down to $2.11 per pound in 2022, compared to its peak in 1979, which adjusted for inflation would amount to more than $8 today. Imported shrimp has been cheaper than wild-caught domestic shrimp since 2016, according to the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
The collapse isn’t a resource concern—shrimpers say there’s enough to catch. Deflated values have left them, despite having the training and equipment to head out to sea, keeping their boats tied to the dock, figuring the cost of ice, fuel, and labor will outweigh what they’d get for their haul. Amid population increases and climbing demand for shrimp, the total amount caught by North Carolina fishermen has fluctuated in recent decades but remained mostly flat as an overall trend; shrimpers caught 4.8 million pounds in 2022, about as much as they did in 1979.
“Either they can’t make enough money to justify going out, or they have nowhere to go with whatever they catch,” Davis said.
Despite the challenges, Davis Seafood has managed to insulate itself from the pitfalls somewhat, due to its loyal base of retail customers—many who drive hours just to pack coolers to last through a season. “Someone used to come from Texas, and they’ll buy like 1,000 or 1,500 pounds at a time for neighbors and family and coworkers,” Davis said. About 90 percent of the business’s sales are from shrimp.
As of 2022, about 300 licensed commercial fishermen sold shrimp in North Carolina, the lowest total on record. It’s a dramatic slide from the more than 1,000 as of 1995, according to state data.
Over the past several months, the North Carolina Fisheries Association has secured resolutions from most of the state’s coastal counties—Currituck, Dare, Pamlico, Craven, Carteret, Onslow, and Brunswick. The resolutions ask Gov. Roy Cooper to submit a formal request to the U.S. secretary of commerce to issue a shrimp disaster declaration.
The idea is to secure the declaration under recently expanded definitions. “What’s happened more recently, in part as a reaction to climate change, is there was looser language put in place about what would result in a fisheries disaster,” said Nathan Rickard, an attorney for the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
Counties across the Southeast have passed similar shrimp resolutions pursuing the same strategy. Getting the declaration is one step; it would be up to Congress to decide to allocate money toward the crisis once declared.
So far, Jerry Schill, the director of government relations for the North Carolina Fisheries Association, said they haven’t heard back from Cooper or his representatives.
Jordan Monaghan, a spokesperson for Cooper, said the governor secured $7.7 million in federal funds for North Carolina fishermen after Hurricane Florence. “The Governor’s Office will continue to monitor this deeply concerning regional challenge to the shrimp industry,” he said in a statement.
In-state shrimpers have received natural-disaster-specific assistance in the past, like for hurricanes or the recent pandemic, but Schill said this request could directly address the economic devastation they’re experiencing.
“It used to be that a fisherman would tell you, ‘I just want to be left alone,’” Schill said. But increased regulation and financial pressure have soured that perspective. Now, he said the sentiment among shrimpers is: “If farmers can get subsidies, why can’t we?”
Butterfly Effect
If you’re eating shrimp in America, it most likely came from another country and wasn’t wild-caught.
An often-cited metric estimates domestic shrimp makes up just 10 percent of what Americans eat (though some researchers contend the domestic share could be higher, closer to 35 percent). Each American eats about 6 pounds of shrimp per year—more than any other seafood product.
Shrimp imports into the U.S. have jumped 55 percent over the past decade, driven by population growth and increased demand. Wild domestic shrimp harvesting has slumped; meanwhile, shrimp farming developments using cheap land and labor propped up by foreign and international programs have helped imports proliferate.
American shrimp farmers have faltered while attempting to compete within a more rigorous regulatory framework. Domestically farmed shrimp make up just a sliver of the overall equation: U.S. aquaculture produced about 4.5 million pounds compared to the total imported amount, about 1.6 billion, as of the latest federal count.
There are no shrimp farms in North Carolina, and there are no plans to build any, said Debra Sloan, the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’s agribusiness development and aquaculture specialist. Sloan attributed the lack of interest to startup costs and a low return on investment.
Florida, Texas, and California have a handful of shrimp aquaculture operations that aim to use technology to help domestically farmed shrimp compete with imports. But that’s a gargantuan task.
Since the midcentury, domestic shrimpers have alleged that the biggest importers haven’t been playing fair.
In the U.S., regulators can charge importers a tariff known as an anti-dumping fee. These fees are imposed on countries or producers who regulators deem are selling their products too cheaply. This can happen when sellers are subsidized in their home countries and unsubsidized domestic competitors can’t match their price, or other economic conditions are in play, like exploitative labor practices.
“A country can decide, ‘Well, we’re losing market share, so we’re just going to take money from our taxpayers and put that in there,’” Rickard said. “That’s what the case is right now with India.”
“It used to be that a fisherman would tell you, ‘I just want to be left alone.’”
Jerry Schill, director of government relations for the North Carolina Fisheries Association
Domestic shrimpers first secured trade relief in 2005, when the International Trade Commission agreed to impose anti-dumping duties on Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The duties seemed to work against China, which today is almost a nonfactor in the shrimp importation equation. But they didn’t slow India. Over the past decade, India has become the nation’s largest shrimp importer, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total imported market share.
“India and Ecuador have really flooded the market over the last several years,” Rickard said. “And that has undermined the trade agreements that they had in place before.”
In 2011, the commission renewed anti-dumping duties for Brazil, China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam; after a five-year mark the commission again renewed the duties in 2017 for each country but Brazil. This past summer after the latest review, the commission upheld the tariffs for the remaining four countries.
Shrimp industry representatives are in the midst of new federal investigations seeking expanded and stronger sanctions, including adding Indonesia to, and getting Ecuador back on, the anti-dumping duty roster. They also aim to counter subsidies provided to foreign shrimp industries in Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
In a positive signal for the domestic industry, the commission sided in December with the American Shrimp Processors Association in a preliminary determination for the expanded anti-dumping duties. In the ruling, the commission concluded the imports “significantly undersold” the domestic products, causing shrimpers to “lose sales and market share.”
A spokesperson for the commission said it doesn’t comment on ongoing matters. After a planned hearing in October, the commission’s final determination on the industry’s expanded tariff request is anticipated before the end of the year.
Aside from making importers pay more, shrimpers are also eyeing other avenues as a financial lifeboat.
Federal legislators in Louisiana—a state that has consistently led the U.S. in wild shrimp harvesting—have filed several shrimp-friendly bills in recent years. Since 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has agreed to purchase about $110 million worth of product from Gulf Coast and South Atlantic shrimpers for use in schools, food banks, and other public purposes. The department cited the proliferation of imports, natural disasters, and fuel prices as factors behind the relief.
No such federal relief has been granted to North Carolina shrimpers. But they hope funds trickle their way in through a different funding source: anti-dumping duties.
Currently, when importers from China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam reach the U.S. border with their products, domestic shrimpers don’t see a dime of the tariff collected. The shrimp tariffs bring in roughly $31 million a year, per the latest data analyzed by the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
The bulk of the funds are routed to the U.S. Treasury, spent at the discretion of Congress. Thirty percent gets funneled to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—the agency that regulates commercial shrimping.
In the past, shrimpers have complained that the agency can be rigid in its oversight of domestic activities while being lax in enforcing rules against importers. This can especially sting when the agency in charge of them is netting some of the tariffs. NOAA did not provide comment.
“One of the things that’s really angered the industry is that they’ve been working to get these tariffs collected,” Rickard said. “It’s not just that they’re not getting money. It’s the money that they’re putting into the federal government isn’t being used to help them from the regulatory agency that’s getting the funds.”
Shrimpers used to see some of that money. Anti-dumping duties assessed to foreign importers—not just for shrimp but also for steel and other products—were briefly allocated to harmed domestic competitors beginning in 2000. But Congress repealed the legislation in 2005 after significant international pushback.
Because the collection and payment process has dragged on, some domestic shrimpers are still seeing tiny deposits from that five-year time period. Last year, Rickard said most fishermen in the program got a check for less than $1.
Last summer, federal lawmakers introduced a bill that would transfer the majority of shrimp anti-dumping duties to a new fund. Half of it would be used for bulk purchases, like Gulf Coast and South Atlantic shrimpers have seen, and the rest would be for a new inspection program to eradicate banned antibiotics from imported shrimp.
Republican U.S. Rep. David Rouzer, who represents southeastern North Carolina, co-sponsored the bill, the Laws Ensuring Safe Shrimp (LESS) Act, in January.
“At a time when North Carolina shrimpers are struggling from high fuel costs, unnecessary bureaucratic regulations, and a weak market saturated with imported foreign shrimp that often contains unhealthy and illegal antibiotics, it’s important we work to protect this critical industry,” Rouzer said.
‘An Open Secret’
Restaurants, North Carolina shrimpers reluctantly say, are part of the problem.
Imports come in frozen boxes. They roll in on time with trucks delivering other produce. They’re cheaper, easy, and dependable.
Davis said Wrightsville Beach Brewery is probably the only restaurant that consistently sources his family’s locally caught shrimp. The uncomfortable reality that coastal dives buy imported seafood is one Davis doesn’t like to get into—he’s friends with many of them, and after all, they are occasional or potential customers.
“We frequently get pitched on imported shrimp,” said Jud Watkins, owner of Wrightsville Beach Brewery. “‘Buy this, it’s way less expensive.’ Or ‘Try this, most customers won’t know the difference.’ I don’t love the ethics behind trying to trick or fool customers or cut corners.”
Especially with inflation, Watkins said customers lately seem to care more about price than quality or source—an uphill fight for a restaurant that prides itself on sustainability with a reasonably priced menu.
“[Imported] shrimp. Oysters. Farm-raised fish. Crabs might even be the worst,” he said. “It’s definitely an open secret.”
Watkins has always insisted on sourcing exclusively North Carolina seafood. “No doubt sourcing North Carolina shrimp is at least two to three times more expensive than imported shrimp, but we find it to be worth the additional costs,” he said. “I don’t think you’ll find higher-quality shrimp or saltwater fish anywhere in the world.”
Within a day or two of a Davis boat docking in Sneads Ferry with a fresh load, those shrimp are plated in the brewery’s dining room. Late in the season, Watkins said he gets most excited when the giant green tails are teeming in the cooler water.
Personally, he won’t eat seafood if he doesn’t know where or how it was sourced.
“I think we are seeing this across a variety of industries right now: flooding the market with cheaper, low-quality items. Anything from seafood to clothes to stainless steel,” he said. “I just hope we as a society can collectively get together behind local vendors and support them.”
The NC Restaurant and Lodging Association said that it didn’t have information about imported shrimp but that restaurants generally consider cost, availability, customer preferences, and other factors when making purchasing decisions.
While dining out, if a customer is curious enough to ask where the seafood is from, they may not get a straight—or accurate—answer.
The restaurants “live on a reputation,” said Schill, the North Carolina Fisheries Association government relations director. “It’s not that they lie. It’s that people think that they’re on the Morehead City waterfront, it’s gotta be local. No, it isn’t.”
They may have some local seafood, Schill said, but it’s a lot less than customers assume. When Schill visits these restaurants, he always asks. “I know one place, I asked the question I always ask, ‘Where’s your crabmeat come from?’
“‘Oh, it comes from here. Our crabcakes come from right here.’”
He didn’t correct the waitress—that wasn’t the point. “I know the lady that makes the crabcake and she’s local. However, she uses imported crabmeat,” he said.
Aside from safeguarding a local product for local consumers, Schill says there’s something cultural at stake with the impending demise of the industry.
“There’s just something about those outriggers,” he said. “There’s been songs made about the shrimp boats a-comin’. It’s something that a lot of people can understand; just looking at the boats makes it more important.”
Once shrimpers decide to quit, Schill said the industry is as good as gone in North Carolina.
“If we lose the infrastructure … that’s hard to replace because developers will buy up the property where those fish houses are now and build a condominium,” he said. “And you’ll never see another fish house there again.”
Rocking in a swing chair overlooking the sound, waiting for the boats to return with a fresh haul, the 82-year-old Buddy Davis reflected on the changes. “Shrimpin’ ain’t like it used to be,” he said.
Asked for a lunch recommendation on where to find fresh local seafood, Davis said, “My house.”
Johanna F. Still is The Assembly‘s Wilmington editor. She previously covered economic development for Greater Wilmington Business Journal and was the assistant editor at Port City Daily.