KOCHI: It is good news for the fishermen community and seafood exporters. After a four-year-long ban, the US administration is likely to lift the ban on Indian wild caught shrimp. A team of experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the scientific and regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce, will arrive in Kochi on February 19, to evaluate and grant final approval to the Turtle Excluder Device (TED) developed by the Kochi-based Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT).The US administration had imposed a ban on Indian wild caught shrimp, alleging that the unregulated fishing activity was posing a threat to the endangered turtle species. If the US experts grant final approval to the TED, the coastal states will have to encourage the trawl boat owners to fix the new device. Once the fishing community accepts the innovation and the Ministry of Fisheries submits a compliance report, the US administration may lift the ban. This will ensure better price for Indian shrimp in the international market ensuring better revenue for the fishermen. But the state governments will have to provide an incentive to the trawl boat operators to accept the innovation.Sea turtles are listed as critically endangered or threatened on World Conservation Union Red List. Unregulated fishing poses a threat to the species as they get caught in trawl gears, pelagic long liners, gill net and shrimp trawl gears in coastal waters. A US law introduced in May 1996 restricted imports of shrimp harvested with fishing equipment such as trawl nets not equipped with TED.“The new TED developed by CIFT meets the guidelines of the NOAA and we expect a final approval from US authorities during their visit on February 19. We have been conducting workshops in all coastal states to create awareness among the fishermen on the need to fix the TED in fishing gear. It will cost around Rs 25,000 and the state governments will have to provide some financial aid to the fishermen to fix the device in the net,” said CIFT director George Ninan.
Source link
