Photo: Ernesto Méndez / Excelsior

US embargo against Mexican shrimp starting in May

MEXICO
Saturday, April 17, 2021, 09:00 (GMT + 9)

Due to negligence, lack of budget and inexperience in Conapesca and Profepa, as of May the United States will apply an embargo against Mexican shrimp caught in deep waters, which represents income for the country of 257 million dollars a year.

Sources consulted in the National Commission of Aquaculture and Fisheries (Conapesca) and the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa), revealed that since the end of 2018, the special group of federal fisheries officials that dedicated themselves throughout the year to training to the captains and crew of the ships in the correct use of the Sea Turtle Excluder Devices known as TED's.

Conapesca staff together with Profepa inspectors monitoring fishing gear together with a NOAA agent (Photo: PROFEPA)

The objective of this comprehensive training program was to obtain US certification for the sale of wild shrimp caught by the offshore fleet to importers primarily in California.

In this way, the Conapesca staff together with the Profepa inspectors, prepared the ground for the two annual visits announced in advance by the officials of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to verify that the ships use adequately the TEDs, which are 95 percent effective in eliminating bycatch of endangered sea turtles.

Through a punctual inspection and surveillance program, the federal authorities ensured compliance with the standard with training for the calibration of TEDs, where an adequate tilt of the grill and an effective operation of the exclusion cover, allows that the decrease in shrimp catch is minimal and that the turtles that fall into the trawl net can easily get out without drowning.

The situation of lack of resources for fuel, maintenance of boats and payment of Profepa personnel, caused that these actions were reduced to only verification visits in Sinaloa, leaving aside coastal states such as Tamaulipas, Campeche, Tabasco, Yucatán, Chiapas, Michoacán , Nayarit, Colima, Sonora, Baja California and Baja California Sur.

Photo: SEMARNAP

Meanwhile, in Conapesca, a misunderstood fight against corruption caused all the activities of federal fisheries officials to be frozen, who for more than a year were not granted accreditation to be able to work.

According to the Government of Mexico itself, the imminent withdrawal of comparability of the protection programs for sea turtles by the United States is the result of four visits made in two years by NOAA to Campeche, Mazatlán, and Puerto Chiapas. , Puerto Juárez, Puerto Peñasco, Salina Cruz, San Blas and Tampico.

On these occasions, US officials found evidence of improper use of TEDs, "and this was reported in a meeting with the industry and agencies involved, at the end of the last visit."

Photo: Ernesto Méndez / Excelsior

On May 1 of each year, the United States Department of State publishes the list of countries certified to import shrimp into its territory.

Licensed nations must use technology to reduce damage to sea turtles "comparable" to that used by US ships, including Turtle Excluder Devices.

A study by Inapesca establishes that, for example, in the 2007-2008 shrimp season, instead of registering the incidental fishing of 28 sea turtles, the number would have reached 560 specimens, if the TEDs had not been used.

While in later years, the on-board observer program reported that with training, inspection and surveillance, as well as the use of exclusion devices, the mortality of sea turtles was practically reduced to zero.

Author: Ernesto Méndez / Excelsior

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