NEW ORLEANS, La. (KLFY) -- Seafood festivals along the Gulf Coast have faced allegations of passing off imported shrimp as locally sourced.

Seafood Development (SeaD) Consulting have been investigating shrimp festivals along the Gulf who advertise to sell locally caught shrimp, finding that some festival vendors in Morgan City and Gulf Shores were selling imported shrimp and passing it off as Gulf shrimp.

SeaD visited the Louisiana Shrimp Festival and Shrimp Aid in New Orleans, testing shrimp from all of the vendors. They found that every vendor had authentic, locally caught shrimp.

Erin Williams, CEO of SeaD Consulting, said it was a "pleasant surprise."

"Based off of our recent findings, it is a little bit of a surprise," Erin said. "But, also knowing more about the organizers of the event and their commitment to the shrimping industry, we weren't all the way surprised."

Erin said the seven vendors were eager and willing to give samples.

"They were very proud to say that, 'Hey, we're using local shrimp,'" Erin said. "They had no hesitation. Every single one of them said, 'Hey, please let us know when you get the results back because we know what it is.'"

SeaD said the vendors were able to restock from shrimpers near festival grounds, proving the catch of the day was locally caught.

"They just walked right outside, shook hands with the shrimpers and got more shrimp to continue to serve up to the public," Erin said.

These findings are different from similar festivals in Morgan City and Gulf Shores where testing showed what people thought was local shrimp was actually imported.

David Williams, owner of SeaD Consulting, said the only problem with imported shrimp is when it's advertised as domestic.

"When you attract tourists to come down to an event that implies that it's helping to save the local fishing community and basically promises impressive fresh Gulf seafood, then the consumers come down, they're coming down under false expectations," David said. "Say, for instance, they eat the fresh Gulf shrimp, and they say that they don't like the flavor. They might not want to go shrimp again. It could be that that shrimp was frozen down somewhere in Vietnam. Who knows? It just, allows the consumers to have the ability to make their choices."

"Our whole objective is to sell more Gulf shrimp and allow people to enjoy eating Gulf shrimp when they think they're eating Gulf shrimp," David continued

David said one of the five seafood festivals happening along the Gulf Coast this weekend will receive an unannounced visit for shrimp testing.

They also plan to test shrimp at Louisiana restaurants starting in December.

"I have no beef against imported shrimp. And imported shrimp is a good quality shrimp. Most people eat it. It tastes good. There's nothing wrong with it," David said. "Just please, please, please, please, please don't pretend it's domestic, local shrimp. If you have fishing boats on the wall, if you have nets on the wall, if your actual restaurant is called something 'boat' and you're not serving domestic shrimp, then shame on you. We would prefer you to do the right thing rather than be somewhat embarrassed."

Erin said the key takeaway from their recent findings is that there are festivals rooted in coastal heritage in communities all along the coast, from Texas to North Carolina.

"They've been established to honor and celebrate the culture and heritage of our local fishing communities," Erin said. "So when you have events like this, it is possible to include the community and include our commercial fishermen in the process."

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