Barbecued, boiled, broiled or baked, Gulf Coast shrimp has seen the spotlight as a Louisiana commodity.
With the opening of a new shrimp processor and distributor, Baton Rouge Shrimp Company, the city will see the creation of about 38 new direct and nearly 60 indirect jobs, according to Mayor-President Kip Holden, who announced the company’s opening at a press conference on Monday.
The company is expanding and retrofitting a 50,000-square-foot facility on Neosho Avenue. They will purchase wild shrimp from shrimpers at ports along the Gulf of Mexico.
Thomas Lusco, president and CEO of Baton Rouge Shrimp Company, said Louisiana is the No. 1 seafood landing port in the entire continental U.S., second only to Alaska, landing $1.4 billion worth of seafood a year.
“Shrimp makes up 65 percent of that,” Lusco said. “Some of that cash is actually going to other states for processing, taking jobs with it. Our goal as a company is to keep more of our raw product in Louisiana, create jobs, income, taxes for the state, and of course,