Indian fishing community urges government to take steps to lift US ban on wild shrimp caught in India

The traditional fishing community in Kerala has urged the Centre to take urgent steps to remove the US restrictions on wild-caught shrimp that came into force in 2019. The US imposed the ban in the absence of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in fishing boats during the inspection by the US team in 2019.

Charles George, president of Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi, said the team of US and Indian officials that finalised the design of the TED in February this year had submitted a satisfactory report on the new changes to the TED. The ban should be lifted only after the US team submits its report to Congress, he said.

According to him, the restrictions have had a cascading effect on the state’s fisheries sector as the US is the main market for Indian wild shrimp.

Many closed units

Of the seafood exports worth Rs 60,523 crore, he said, the contribution of wild varieties was over Rs 3,500 crore. India’s marine export basket includes shrimp from aquaculture farms and wild shrimp.

He asked the Centre to make all possible efforts to lift the ban at the earliest to enable the State’s fisheries sector to generate considerable foreign exchange earnings. Several shrimp processing units in Kerala have been forced to shut down due to decline in orders. Besides, prices of wild caught varieties have seen a significant decline in other markets like EU, Japan, China etc. due to the US ban.

He said there is a concerted attempt globally to bring down prices of Indian products through various means and the government should take strong steps to protect the domestic industry.

The authorities organised a workshop on July 18 at the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology with officials of the state fisheries department and trawler owners to sensitise them on the need for installing TEDs on fishing nets. Senior officials of the state fisheries department were appointed as liaison officers to conduct a joint inspection of TEDs on fishing nets.