It’s not often we get to use the words “good news” and “farm bill” in the same sentence, but even heavily subsidized pigs occasionally take flight. A recent vote in the U.S. Senate to end a costly and pointless regulation of fish imports that threatened to spark a trade war is a case in point.
This week Senators approved by voice vote the repeal of a regulation that would have barred imports of a popular Vietnamese fish called the pangasius. Domestic catfish producers have been trying for years to block their cheaper Vietnamese competitor, which has a similar taste and texture to American catfish although it’s a completely different species.
First domestic producers persuaded Congress to prohibit importers from labeling the pangasius as a catfish, and then successfully launched an antidumping case against the imports. But neither of those measures dented consumer demand.
Click here to read the full column from the Wall Street Journal >
Click here to read Wednesday’s SeafoodSource article “Catfish amendment survives U.S. Senate vote” >
