WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two Louisiana congressmen are calling on the U.S. Trade Representative to investigate what they say are unfair foreign trade practices hurting the American seafood industry.

Rep. Clay Higgins, a Republican and Rep. Troy Carter, a Democrat, sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer asking for a Section 301 investigation into foreign seafood importers.

The letter says those importers have contributed to a significant decline in the domestic seafood industry through practices like labor abuses and false labeling.

The two congressmen wrote that a Section 301 investigation covering a broad range of unfair practices "would allow the Administration to effectively leverage access to our market to improve conditions overseas and level the playing field for the American seafood industry within its own domestic market."

The letter specifically asks the Office of the United States Trade Representative to look at unfair acts, policies and practices across the full seafood supply chain from countries including Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Spain, Thailand and Vietnam.

Several seafood industry groups are backing the letter, including the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, the Southern Shrimp Alliance and the Catfish Farmers of America.

Richard Fontenot, president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau, said the request reflects what he hears from members regularly. "Time and again I hear from Louisiana Farm Bureau members who have a simple request of their lawmakers: help us do business on a level playing field," Fontenot said.

Blake Price, director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, said the U.S. shrimp industry is grateful to both congressmen for leading the request. "We ask the Trump Administration to seize this opportunity to address unfair trade practices, eliminate unsafe imports and level the longstanding unfair playing field for American producers," Price said.

Price added that under fair market conditions, American shrimpers could sustainably harvest tens of millions of additional pounds of shrimp each year, "preserving a way of life for fishing families and boosting coastal economies from Texas to North Carolina."