The U.S. government has certified that the programs implemented by Mexico’s shrimp industry to protect sea turtles are acceptable, opening the way for shrimp fishermen to continue exporting their catch to the United States, the Mexican Agriculture Secretariat said.
Mexico’s shrimp industry exported 26,182 tons of the crustaceans, including both shrimp caught in the wild and shrimp grown on farms, to the United States in 2012, generating $251 million in revenues, the secretariat said.
The U.S. State Department announced on July 26 that Mexico had taken the necessary measures to reduce the incidental capture of sea turtles by fishing boats.
Turtle Excluder Devices, or TEDs, have been required on shrimp boats using mechanical dragnets in the Gulf of Mexico since 1996 and in the Pacific since 1997.
“In our country, we have put strict measures in place, with the participation of fishermen and federal authorities, to ensure compliance with regulations on turtle excluders,” the secretariat said.
Mexican officials have created inspection and monitoring systems, as well as training programs, covering “the certification of worker competence on TEDs,” the Agriculture Secretariat said.
The United States announced a ban on imports of Mexican wild shrimp in March 2010 because fishing boats lacked the equipment to protect sea turtles.
The restrictions applied to shrimp caught using mechanical dragnets and not to those raised on farms, which account for about 80 percent of Mexico’s production.
EFE, 2013