India's Shrimp exports suffer $500 mn loss due to US ban

CHENNAI: India’s shrimp exports have suffered a significant loss of USD 500 million due to a ban imposed by the United States on wild-caught shrimps.

The US ban on importing wild-caught shrimps from India has badly affected the livelihood of a large number of fishers.

India experienced a substantial decline in wild-caught shrimp exports, amounting to a loss of USD 500 million following the ban in 2019, according to India's status report on conservation and trade policies on marine mammals and turtles.

The US imposed a ban on shrimp from India based on its law that prohibits the import of wild-caught shrimp from commercial fisheries that negatively impact sea turtles.

Sea turtles are incidentally caught along with fish in fishing gear like trawls. The report was presented at a global forum held in Chennai on Saturday on the conservation of marine mammals and sea turtles attended by representatives from 11 countries in the Bay of Bengal region.

According to the report, the country has finalised two designs of Turtle Excluder Device (TED) to be fitted in the trawl net as per the technical requirements of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA. One of the designs has been approved for implementation in India by the NOAA as it facilitates the escapement of incidentally caught sea turtles.

The country developed trained manpower to demonstrate the TED designs to the fishermen. Field demonstrations are underway in all maritime states to create awareness among stakeholders on the importance of usage of TED, the report said.