Hearing of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee - Impact of Federal Labor and Safety Laws on the U.S. Seafood Industry

Hearing

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining me for today's Senate Small Business Committee hearing focusing on how federal labor and safety laws are impacting small businesses within the seafood industry. Today we will be hearing from two panels of expert witnesses and stakeholders who will testify on these important issues.

As anyone who has visited our State knows, Louisianians enjoy quality seafood, which happens to play a major role in our culture and economy. The Louisiana shrimp, oyster, and crawfish industries support over 20,000 jobs in the state, and have an annual impact of over $1.7 billion. Regionally, the Gulf States produce 70 percent of the nation's oysters, 69 percent of domestic shrimp, and are a leading producer of domestic hard- and soft-shell blue crabs.

The seafood industry is responsible for creating jobs and revenue that support many families and coastal communities in the Gulf, which is why it is so important to make sure that there is a strong regulatory scheme in place that takes into account local and regional needs, while also promoting safety and economic growth.

Seafood processors in Louisiana, and across the Gulf Coast, rely on seasonal foreign workers to fill the most labor intensive positions throughout the sector. These workers come to the United States legally under the H-2B visa program. This program is vital to many in the seafood business as many of these operations take place in small rural communities where access to a stable, reliable labor force can be troublesome.

Recently, we have seen the difficulty of compliance with this program increase - most notably with the Department of Labor's decision to stop accepting Private Wage Rate Surveys, which has forced businesses to re-allocate their financial resources -- often paying out more - in order to cover high wages that do not reflect local markets.

Another area that requires attention is ensuring the safety of seafood that is being imported into the country. It is imperative that we ensure that all foreign importers are playing by the same rules and regulations that our domestic producers operate under.

That is one of the reasons I introduced the "Imported Seafood Safety Standards Act." This legislation increases inspection rates, quality standards, and penalties in order to protect American families and businesses from foreign importers not playing by the same rules.

In closing, we need to make sure that federal regulations do not negatively impact our small seafood providers. What Washington bureaucrats often fail to realize is that their rule-making can put many domestic seafood producers permanently out of business and leave a void that will quickly be filled by foreign competitors.

Again, thank you all for being here today, and I look forward to our discussion.

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