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Fact Sheet: MARINE TURTLES

The Shrimp And The Mangrove


Trade And Environmental Law Clash In WTO Shrimp-Turtle Dispute

Turtle September 15th, 1997

GENEVA, Switzerland --WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature today (September 15, 1997) released a new report containing scientific and legal recommendations designed to prevent the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) shrimp-turtle Dispute Panel undermining international environmental agreements.

Four Asian countries - Thailand, India, Malaysia and Pakistan - have complained against the United States of America for stopping imports of wild caught shrimps into the US market unless the shrimps were caught with nets fitted with turtle exclusion devices (TEDs). Shrimp nets used without TEDs drown thousands of turtles annually.

The release of the WWF 'Amicus' brief coincides with the start of the second meeting of the WTO shrimp-turtle Dispute Panel. If the WTO chooses to ignore the conservation facts and international agreements like those detailed in the WWF report, it will encourage many such conflicts in the future.

"Countries should not be using WTO rules to duck their obligations under international environmental laws," said Dr Claude Martin, Director General of WWF International. "The WWF brief shows that TEDs are necessary for turtle conservation and that international law obliges all countries to protect those turtles."

The five species of migratory sea-turtles occurring in the waters of the complainant countries are all threatened with extinction. These species - the Green, Olive Ridley, Leatherback, Loggerhead, and Hawksbill - are all on Appendix I of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). They are also listed under the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, and in the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Red list of endangered species.

Scientific data shows that they cannot be effectively conserved without protection of the sexually mature adults in waters around the coast line of the Complainant countries. Current shrimp fishing practices in these and adjacent waters threaten these turtles' survival - TEDs are currently the most practical and cost-effective way of removing this threat.

The harvesting of shrimp within territorial waters and on the high seas is also subject to international legal agreements, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Regional agreements, including the ASEAN Agreement on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, signed by Malaysia and Thailand, reinforce international law which protects sea turtles.

"WWF warned the WTO at its Ministerial Meeting in Singapore last December that it was playing Russian roulette with international environmental agreements," said Dr Martin. "Unless the WTO respects international environmental agreements, disputes like this are bound to multiply."

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Contact:
Charles Arden-Clarke at + 41 22 3649337 or Someshwar Singh at +41 22 3649553.