Imported shrimp and a lack of workers are making it hard for Rio Grande Valley shrimpers to compete in their own industry.

There's plenty of shrimp out in the Gulf of Mexico, but chances Valley restaurants are serving shrimp imported from thousands of miles overseas instead of locally produced shrimp.

That's a challenge for shrimpers here in the Rio Grande Valley, as well as fuel costs and labor issues are affecting the industry.

Port Isabel City Manager Jared Hockema says the issues have transformed the city from what it once was.

“Most of those challenges are not natural challenges,” Hockema said. “We have an abundance of shrimp. The issue is man made."

In response to these issues, the Port Isabel City Commission recently declared a state of disaster for the shrimping.

The declaration also raises awareness about U.S. regulations in the industry, Hockema added.

“We have laws on the books right now that regulate food safety,” Hockema explained. “Here in the United States, if you have a shrimp farm, or you were producing shrimp, you couldn't adulterate that shrimp with chemicals... But yet we allow shrimp from foreign countries that is contaminated, that is adulterated, to come to the United States.”

Hockema said the declaration isn't the same as those more commonly seen for natural disasters, but he hopes it could lead to relief for shrimpers in the future.

“Make no mistake, this is a disaster for our local shrimping industry, and really Cameron County as a whole,” Hockema said.