In 1990 the U.S. national academy of sciences issued a report that more sea turtles are killed by shrimp trawling than all other human causes combined.

Environmentalists worked for years to pass regulations requiring all nations exporting shrimp to the U.S. to use Turtle Excluder Devices, or TEDs, to keep sea turtles from drowning in shrimpers’ huge funnel-shaped nets. But in 1998, after a series of closed-door meetings, the World Trade Organization ruled that requiring TEDs was an unfair restraint of trade and that the U.S. must either change its regulations or pay compensation to nations that refuse to use the devices.

The sea turtle case is a prime example of how the WTO is devastating environmental protection worldwide. The ruling not only weakened the most effective international mechanism for protecting sea turtles, but perpetuated the mass killing of sea turtles in India. If the WTO remains on this course, international environmental protections—like the species they protect—may disappear.

Sea turtles have existed since the age of dinosaurs, but today all seven species of sea turtles are listed as endangered, threatened, or vulnerable. The population of the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle has declined to only 2,000 nesting females worldwide.

Threats to sea turtles range from the loss of nesting grounds to the slaughter of adult turtles for their shells and skins, but the greatest threat is the rising consumption of seafood, made possible by destructive and wasteful methods of industrial fishing. Before they were banned, high seas driftnets killed hundreds of thousands of sea turtles every year. Longline fleets, which set up to 10 billion hooks in the ocean every year, kill countless numbers of sea turtles.

But shrimp trawling is the worst of all: An estimated 150,000 sea turtles are caught in shrimp nets each year. Sea turtles breathe air, like humans. They can hold their breath for up to eight hours, but when caught in the nets they eventually drown.

TEDs are simple, inexpensive devices that can prevent more than 97 percent of sea turtle drownings in shrimp nets. A TED is simply a metal grid that guides sea turtles out of the net via an escape flap while permitting shrimp to pass between the bars and into the back of the net.

A 1989 provision of the Endangered Species Act called the Turtle Shrimp Law required all countries exporting shrimp to the U.S. to use TEDs or other methods that ensure turtle protection. Later, a coalition of environmental groups sued to compel the State Department to enforce the law. As a result, 16 nations improved their fishing policies and practices.

But in 1996, four nations including India challenged the Turtle Shrimp Law as a restraint of trade. In 1998, the WTO, after a series of meetings that excluded experts from non-governmental organizations, and despite the pleas of the world’s most prominent marine biologists, ruled against the U.S. law. The State Department complied by weakening the guidelines to allow shrimp imports on a shipment by shipment basis. A lawsuit is pending to force a return to the stricter standards, arguing that the State Department’s appeasement of the WTO violated the intent of Congress in passing the Turtle Shrimp Law.

As a result of the ruling, many nations refuse to adopt TEDs and continue to kill thousands of endangered sea turtles. India, one of the complainants before the WTO, has not adopted a TED law, permitting the killing of 13,000 turtles this year at one of the most important nesting beaches in the world. The WTO ruling has eliminated the primary incentive for India to improve its shrimping practices.

This is the third time, following earlier rulings against the Clean Air Act and dolphin-safe tuna, that a WTO ruling has either weakened or wiped out important environmental laws supported by the American people and elected officials. Unless the WTO, which has set its sights on increasing its power, is abolished, it won’t be the last time.

Peter Fugazzotto, Sea Turtle Restoration Project

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