The tariffs are expected to increase the cost of shrimp nationwide.

Commerce officials say it's too early to predict how much the tariffs could drive up prices, but some food industry analysts say it could be as much as 40 percent and more.

Wally Stevens, the most outspoken critic of the tariffs and head of a national shrimp importers' task force, said many foreign companies will cut their imports altogether and Americans will see the difference on the menus of many restaurants and at stores.

"The increase we've seen in shrimp consumption has been funded in many ways by chain restaurants that heretofore couldn't afford to buy it," Stevens said. "(Imports) have cut the price to the point that it is affordable. This tax (tariff) will be passed along to the consumer, and people just won't serve shrimp."

The U.S. Commerce Department's decision on the tariffs came after a nearly yearlong investigation that concluded China and Vietnam have illegally dumped hundreds of millions of dollars worth of farm-raised shrimp into the United States, selling them at prices far below U.S. market value and driving down what domestic shrimpers can charge.

If the U.S. International Trade Administration finds, as expected, that shrimp dumping has hurt the U.S. shrimp industry, most Chinese and Vietnamese exporters will be charged punitive tariffs beginning as soon as January.

South Carolina shrimpers say it's obvious cheap imports have hurt them. They've watched the wholesale price of a pound of shrimp drop to $3.50 from almost $5 in just five years.

Nationwide, the price has dropped to $2.65 per pound compared to the 2000 rate of about $5.70.

The cuts, coupled with rising fuel costs, have made it difficult for some shrimpers to compete.

"There just aren't the local shrimpers out like there should be," said Wayne Magwood, a shrimper who owns Magwood Seafood on Shem Creek. "This should be prime time for shrimpers, but nobody's out here because prices are so low and fuel's so high. We've only got five or six out here now, sometimes there's only two or three."

South Carolina shrimpers hope that getting more money for their shrimp will allow them to spend more money processing their catch -- deveining and freezing it -- so they can offer local shrimp to stores for a longer period each year.

Domestic shrimp accounts for only about 10 percent of the shrimp Americans eat. The other 90 percent comes mostly from countries in Asia and South America, six of which have been under investigation this year for selling at unfair prices.

The Commerce Department determined that Chinese shrimp exporters should be charged punitive tariffs ranging from about 27 percent to 113 percent.

Shrimp exported out of Vietnam will be subject to tariffs of 4 to 27 percent, much lower than the 93 percent rate the Commerce Department originally expected to impose.

Proposed tariffs on exports from Thailand, India, Brazil and Ecuador still are being studied, and a decision is expected by Dec. 20.

Shrimpers in South Carolina say the tariffs, though less than what they had hoped for, will be the first step in stabilizing a floundering domestic industry and boosting falling wholesale prices.

"The stores are anxious for more local shrimp," said Clay Cable, vice president of the South Carolina Shrimpers Association. "The market is there, if we can just get more money for the product."

The association is one of eight in states from Texas to Florida that have lobbied for the tariffs.

Restaurant chains and food distributors, on the other hand, have argued that the domestic shrimp supply cannot keep up with demand and that taxing imports will make shrimp difficult to get and too expensive for consumers.

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