Following a pattern of mislabeling seafood, new genetic testing found that nearly a third of randomly selected Baton Rouge restaurants were advertising imported shrimp as Gulf of Mexico catch.

For years, shrimpers and advocates have been raising alarm over cheap imports straining the declining industry. Around 90 percent of shrimp sold in the United States is farm-raised and imported, according to the Louisiana Shrimp Association.

SeaD Consulting, a company that has been using rapid genetic testing across the region, sampled menu items from 24 restaurants around Baton Rouge and found that seven were promoting imported shrimp as local.

"This genetic testing is a good sign to back up what we've been saying all this time," Acy Cooper, the president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association, said. "They're selling this stuff off the backs of Louisiana fishermen."

The company also found that restaurants mislabeling their shrimp were charging more than restaurants selling authentic Gulf catch.

"The unfortunate thing is, as these things progress, it's more often the case people are doing the wrong thing than the right thing," David Williams, the founder of SeaD, said. "That's a bit depressing."

Which restaurants were tested?

SeaD declined to share the restaurants mislabeling their food but shared the 17 spots accurately sourcing Gulf of Mexico shrimp. Some of the restaurants included Bistro Byronz-William Grove, Dempsey's and Geaux Fish Market.

Erin Williams, the COO of SeaD, explained that the company takes only a sample of restaurants throughout a given city. Releasing the names of the places misleading companies would let untested restaurants doing the same thing off the hook.

"We don't want to point out some bad guys when there's a large percentage of bad guys we didn't catch," Erin Williams said.

'We want to give consumers a choice'

The 30 percent mislabeling figure for Baton Rouge restaurants was lower than what was found in other Gulf Coast testing. Earlier this month, SeaD found that 82 percent of sampled restaurants in Biloxi, Mississippi were misleading customers over their shrimp products.

In September, SeaD found that four out of five vendors at the annual Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City were selling imported shrimp. The company saw similar findings at a shrimp festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama. A New Orleans shrimp festival organized after the Morgan City event turned up all local catch, SeaD confirmed.

For those at the company and in the shrimping industry, the genetic testing efforts come back to public awareness.

"We know we're not going to stop imports, but we want to give consumers a choice," Andrew Blanchard, a shrimp processor who sits on the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, said.

'Who's ensuring what's actually being served?'

A new law taking effect on January 1 seeks to address the large-scale mislabeling problem. It will require Louisiana restaurants to clearly state the country of origin of the shrimp and crawfish that they're selling. Restaurants found in violation could face thousands of dollars in fines.

The law comes after previous legislation to combat the mislabeling failed to issue fines for restaurants in violation.

SeaD said the new law will go a long way in saving the industry, but the company also wants to work with government bodies to enforce the new rules.

"Who's ensuring what's actually being served?" Erin Williams said.

In the meantime, SeaD plans on surveying for authentic shrimp across Louisiana, and will likely sample New Orleans restaurants sometime before Jazz Fest, David Williams said. But they don't publicly disclose where they're heading next, "because it alerts the cities we might be testing," he said.

"Hopefully everyone is taking notice of what we're doing now and reconsidering," David Williams said.

According to an estimate by SeaD drawing from Louisiana Restaurant Association data, the mislabeled shrimp could amount to over 3.5 million pounds of processed shrimp per year. If captured by local shrimpers, this could mean more than $26 million in revenue for the Louisiana's shrimping communities.