TRADE: Environmental Treaty May Settle Turtle and Shrimp Case

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Jan 22 1997 (IPS) - The United States proposed an international ecological treaty for the protection of Asian sea turtles as a way to sidestep a trade complaint presented by several regional shrimp- exporting nations.

The Philippines – one of the protesting countries – announced Wednesday that it would look into the US proposal without giving up the right to resolve the case with World Trade Organisaton (WTO) arbitration.

The case began when the United States imposed a ban on the import of Asian shrimps captured by methods which endanger the survival of the turtles.

The verdict passed by the New York Court of International Trade banned the varieties of shrimp captured by boats lacking fishing equipment with mechanisms to protect the sea turtles, which are an endangered species.

This verdict, passed on a case presented by a US environmentalist group, caused a trade conflict when the affected countries resorted to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB).

The plaintiff nations alleged this ban on imports of shrimps fished in ocean areas containing sea turtles has affected the large-scale exports of the shrimp-fishing Asian countries.

And the US National Fisheries Institute said the ban would cover nearly 25 percent of the natural shrimp imports, worth between 200 and 500 million dollars.

Thailand, the nation which lodged the complaint against the United States before the World Trade Organisation this Wednesday, exported nearly a billion dollars-worth of shrimps to the US market in 1994.

However, 90 percent of these came from shrimp farms exempt from the US ban.

Thailand and Malaysia headed the attack against the United States, calling on the DSB to form a special panel to arbitrate on the matter.

Thailand’s delegation to the WTO alleged the United States had publically announced Section 609 of Public Law 101-162 amending the Endangered Species Act “in a unilateral act.”

Under this law, with the sanctioning of regulations and the adoption of legal decisions which interpret this, the US government has imposed a partial embargo on the import of certain types of shrimp, said the Thai ambassador; Jriapaet Krirk-Krai.

The United States told the DSB session that the legal verdict had only had minor effects on trade with the plaintiff countries, and that Article 609 had not affected trade with Thailand.

Washington’s representatives said they were opposed to the formation of a special panel to decide on the complaint.

Thailand and Malaysia were joined by Pakistan, Australia, India, Singapore and the European Union in lodging the complaint.

Three Latin American countries, Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador, also expressed their concern despite the fact the bulk of the 2.5 billion dollars-worth of shrimps they export to the United States each year come from fish farms or cold waters where there are no turtles.

The DSB meeting Wednesday ended without a special panel being formed, although this could be suggested again in the next session on Feb. 25.

But the Phillipines’ announcement of the US proposal for a treaty with all the claimant nations to protect the sea turtles offered the chance to deflect the issue into the environmental area.

The Phillipines said it would be prepared to consider the initiative in line with its environmental policy.

However, the Manila representatives said as far as they were concerned the treaty and the complaint to the WTO must still be considered as two separate issues.