A shrimp fisherman based in Louisiana is suing Walmart claiming the company used a photo of his vessel without his permission to promote sales of imported shrimp.
George Barisich, a shrimp fisherman and the president of the United Commercial Fishermen’s Association, told WWL the company is using a photo of his vessel, the FJG, without his permission. Barisich said the photo was used near a case of shrimp imported from Indonesia and Ecuador.
"The imported shrimp is putting us out of business, and they're using our likenesses to sell more imported shrimp," Barisich told WWL Louisiana in March. "My daddy's turning over in his grave right now."
Barisich told SeafoodSource he found out about the photo from a friend.
"One of my good partners happened to walk in there and see it, and said 'Captain George is going to be pissed when he sees this,'" Barisich said.
He said he's been an advocate for local shrimpers for years, and promotes the industry through running overnight shrimp tours for people interested in learning more about the fishery.
The lawsuit claims the placement of the photo of the FJG suggests it was the source of the shrimp, potentially misleading customers.
"They couldn't have picked a worse person to do this to," he said. "If it had been domestic shrimp under there, I would have said 'go for it,'" Barisich said.
He added it comes at a time shrimpers are having trouble making ends meet on low prices. During the season last year, Barisich said he managed to catch 7,000 pounds of shrimp in one trip on a good fishing day – and ended up getting just USD 4,200 (EUR 3,692) for the catch, less than he would have received fishing it 30 years ago.
"I just tied to boat up, I said 'I can't make it like this,'" Barisich said.
Walmart, in a statement, said that it sells a selection of Gulf shrimp and “asked the store to merchandise only Gulf shrimp below that sign to ensure there is no confusion.”
The lawsuit comes just a few months after ...
