*EPF310 05/02/01
State Dept. Certifies Shrimp from 44 Markets Met Turtle Standards
(WTO, federal court challenges to standards law pending) (430)
By Bruce Odessey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The State Department has certified that shrimp imported from 44 markets meet U.S. standards for harvesting in a way that poses no harm to endangered sea turtle species, a department official said.

Shrimp from markets not so certified are embargoed from the U.S. market under a 1989 U.S. law that sets standards for foreign shrimpers similar to those imposed on U.S. shrimpers.

The department made its certifications April 30, said the official, who asked not to be identified.

One market not certified that could have potentially significant exports to the United States is Malaysia, which has challenged the U.S. system in the World Trade Organization (WTO), he said. A WTO panel ruling is expected later in May.

Of the 44 markets certified, 18 of them require their shrimpers to employ the same equipment, turtle excluder devices (TEDs) required for U.S. shrimpers. They are Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Suriname, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.

Another 25 markets were certified as having shrimp fisheries that pose no dangers to sea turtles. Ten of them have shrimpers using manual rather than mechanical means to retrieve nets or using some other method not harmful to turtles: the Bahamas, China, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Haiti, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Oman, Peru and Sri Lanka.

Shrimpers in the other 16 markets harvest only in cold waters, posing negligible risk to turtles.

Although Brazil and Australia did not receive certification, shrimpers from the northern coast of Brazil and two fisheries in Australia received exceptions from the embargo for individual shipments that are certified by their own governments for meeting U.S. standards.

The State Department official said the department could revoke certification any time during the year if a team of U.S. experts visiting a market cannot verify that its shrimpers are complying with U.S. standards.

A challenge to State Department enforcement of the law remains pending in federal court. Environmental groups filed suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade challenging the department's shipment-by-shipment exception.

The groups argue that the exception discourages countries from adopting comprehensive TEDs programs and gives exporting countries more scope to mix shrimp not harvested legally with TEDs into their shipments.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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