10:22 AM Jun 13, 1996
US SHRIMP BAN DOESN'T SAVE TURTLES OR PEOPLE
New Delhi 12 June (TWN/Vandana Shiva & Gurpreet Karir) -- The US ban on imports of shrimps from countries not using Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) and not accompanied by "turtle-safe" shrimp certifications from countries will neither save turtles nor coastal communities who are threatened by 'shrimp farms'. In an article titled "Turtles befriended to save shrimp exports", the Commerce Secretary of India, Mr.Tejender Khanna, is quoted as saying that in light of the U.S. shrimp import ban, India has already started to issue certificates to marine exporters declaring that trawlers catching fish and shrimp in the high seas have taken measures to use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs). Some 120 such certificates have already been issued by MPEDA (the Marine Products Export Development Authority). According to the Commerce Secretary, since the majority of shrimp exported were not harvested at sea, certificates for "turtle safe" shrimp were being issued to shrimp caught in inland waters or shrimp from aquaculture farms. Following a court ruling, on May 1, the US had announced a ban on imports of shrimp from countries not using TEDs. The U.S. has given a five month period to impose the ban which requires that all harvested or wild caught shrimp should be accompanied by certificates vouching that TEDs were using during fishing. [The issue has been brought up by several of the shrimp-exporting countries at the World Trade Organization where the US administration has said it is exploring the possibility of appealing the ruling.] The U.S. ban is the result of an environmental group, the Earth Island Institute, successfully suing the administration in the US court of International Trade. Todd Steiner, the Director of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project of Earth Island Institute stated "We're overjoyed that the court had the courage to over turn the US Trade Department, putting environmental protection ahead of so called `free-trade' issue". However, the ban does not protects the environment. It is a cosmetic ban that will neither save turtles nor coastal communities. The ban will not save turtles because turtles are not just threatened by trawling. Their nesting sites, along the surrounding waters are threatened by intensive aquaculture activities, which, under the U.S. ban, has been identified as `turtle safe'. The aquaculture industry is just as harmful to the turtles as trawler harvesting, as without an area to nest and migrate the turtles will be unable to maintain their population. Moreover the heavy utilization of sea water for prawn farms and the frequent discharging of effluents into nearby waters has resulted in low productivity of marine life and affected ground water levels in coastal areas. Thus the ban does little to ensure the survival of sea turtles and their surrounding environment. The shrimp import ban does not consider the impact of intensive aquaculture on another threatened species: the poor people living on the coastal regions. Over the past five years the expansion of the 'shrimp farming' industry has lead to soil salinisation, loss of paddy productivity, contamination of drinking water and decline in fish catch. The Supreme Court of India has placed an interim ban preventing the expansion of the aquaculture industry in environmentally sensitive areas and areas occupied and utilised by fisherfolk. However, the industry is not fully complying with the court order, resulting in confrontation between the locals and the industry. The fisherfolk along with various NGOs are trying their best to preserve what little is left of their environment. Areas of special concern are Lake Chilika and Bhitara Kanika, two highly diverse and important ecosystems of Orissa in India. The latter, Bhitara Kanika, is home for various rare and endangered species including the highly publicised Olive Ridley turtle. Bhitara Kanika's mangrove forest is vital to the Olive Ridleys since they provide shelter and source of food. The encroachment of the aquaculture industry has led to the destruction of mangroves, seriously effecting the turtle population and the coastal ecology. An International Convention of fisherfolk, farmers and various environment and social justice organizations, held by Save the Coast Movement of Orissa on October 15, 1995 in Paradeep Orissa developed a Charter highlighting the need to take action against the aquaculture industry. The Convention also called upon consumers in affluent countries to boycott shrimp from ecologically unsound aquaculture practices. In further demand that commercial shrimp producers or entrepreneurs to immediately quit the coast and allow the common people to make their honourable and respectable living. Management through bans is becoming a popular environmental strategy in a free-trade world. But as the case of the shrimp ban makes clear, this strategy does not stop environmental destruction, nor does it make national structures more responsive to the demands of local communities. It deepens and accelerates the free-trade trend. Ironically, trade measures such as these cosmetic bans create a new partnership between Northern trade agencies, Southern trade agencies and various Northern environmentalists instead of strengthening the solidarity of democratic movements for environmental protection in the South and North. Instead of serious shifts in trade logic arising from ecological concern, cosmetic environmentalism is making itself subservient to trade. In fact how shallow those demands are is evident from the ease with which they have been accepted by trade interests. The Indian Commerce Ministry, which in the past has resisted trade measures, stated the US concern was legitimate. The Ministry through MPEDA is issuing certifications stating cultured shrimp will qualify for export along with trawlers that use TEDs. The concern which arises in the issuing of the certification is: * firstly, the difficulty in differentiating between cultured and harvested shrimp since they arrive at the same export houses; and * secondly, in regards to TEDs, who will ensure their utilization? Therefore the issuing of certification will do very little to ensure a socially and ecologically sound practice, instead it provides psychological comfort to rich consumers who want to feel `green'. The `turtle safe' certificate for cultured shrimp is a death certificate for the turtles of Bhitara Kanika and the people throughout India's coast.