Kerala’s traditional fishing community has urged the Centre to take urgent steps to remove the US restrictions on wild caught shrimps which came into effect from 2019. The US imposed the ban in the absence of turtle excluder devices (TED) in fishing boats during inspection by the US team in 2019.
Charles George, president of the Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi, said that the team of US and Indian officials who carried out the design finalisation of TED in February this year is learnt to have given a satisfactory report on the new changes made on TEDs. The ban is expected to be revoked only after the US team submits its report in the Congress, he said.
The restrictions, according to him, have made a cascading effect on the State’s fishery sector as the US is the major market for Indian wild caught shrimps.
Many units shut down
Out of the seafood exports worth ₹60,523 crore, he said the contribution from wild caught varieties was more than ₹3,500 crore. India’s marine export basket comprises shrimps from aquaculture farms and wild caught.
He requested the Centre to take all possible efforts to remove the ban at the earliest to enable the State’s fisheries sector to make considerable foreign exchange earnings. Several shrimp processing units in Kerala were forced to shut down because of declining orders. Besides, the prices of wild caught varieties witnessed a significant drop in other markets such as EU, Japan, China etc because of the US ban.
He alleged that there is a concerted attempt globally to bring down the prices of Indian products by various means and the government should take strong measures to protect the domestic industry.
The authorities have convened a workshop on July 18 at Central Institute of Fisheries Technology with State Fisheries Department officials and trawling boat owners to create awareness on the necessity to install TEDs on fishing nets. Senior officials from the State Fisheries department have been appointed as nodal officers to conduct joint inspection for TEDs on fishing nets.