The U.S. Department of State has officially lifted the country’s embargo on wild-caught Mexican shrimp.
The notice in the Federal Register was posted on Monday, 1 November, though according to a State Department press release released the same day, the U.S. Congress was notified of the certification of Mexico under Section 609 of U.S. law on 21 October.
“Section 609 prohibits the import of shrimp and shrimp products harvested in ways that may adversely affect sea turtle species. This certification, allowing again for importation of wild-caught shrimp into the United States from Mexico pursuant to Section 609, is based on a determination that Mexico’s turtle excluder devices (TEDs) program is again comparable in effectiveness to the U.S. program,” the State Department wrote.
The embargo was put in place in April 2021. The Mexican government first announced the lifting of the embargo on 19 October, but there had been no official notification made by the U.S. since that time. SeafoodSource contacted the U.S. State Department on Wednesday, 20 October, but the agency declined to confirm the ban will be lifted.
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Senior Improvements and Strategy Manager Megan Westmeyer said she has heard from at least one importer who told SFP that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had given his company clearance to start sending truck across the border starting 1 November.
Westmeyer previously told SeafoodSource TED compliance in the Mexican shrimp fleet began slipping toward the end of 2020, as the Mexican government stopped conducting inspections or enforcing its fisheries regulations, which Westmeyer blamed on a federal funding crunch and the COVID-19 pandemic. She detailed a cooperative initiative between the U.S. and Mexico to install more TEDs and provide training on their installation, use, and maintenance, and to have Mexico augment their enforcement efforts. That effort was cited by the State Department in its statement.
“The United States and Mexico have been working in close cooperation on sea turtle conservation as well as a range of bilateral fisheries and marine conservation issues,” it said. “The government of Mexico implemented a plan of action in the past several months to strengthen sea turtle conservation in its shrimp-trawl fisheries, resulting in significantly improved use of TEDs by its fishing industry, as verified by a team of representatives from the State Department and National Marine Fisheries Service.”
Similar cooperative efforts are being undertaken with other countries “to contribute to the recovery of sea turtle species and help them receive certification under Section 609,” the State Department said.
The State Department still has Section 609-related embargos in place on wild-caught shrimp from China, Venezuela, and India, though Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has initiated a research project on marine mammals and sea turtles with the goal of eventually gaining U.S. clearance.
“When properly designed, built, installed, used, and maintained, TEDs allow 97 percent of sea turtles to escape the shrimp net without appreciable loss of shrimp,” the State Department said. “The U.S. government also encourages legislation in other countries to prevent the importation of shrimp harvested in a manner harmful to protected sea turtles.”
Mexican shrimp traders contacted by SeafoodSource were celebrating the end of the embargo, but are now dealing with low shrimp catches as the season picks up through the fall.
Photo courtesy of Conapesca
