Sea Turtles On the Global Chopping Block
by Peter Fugazzato
Sea Turtle Restoration Project

If the World Trade Organization (WTO) gets its way, sea turtles may not survive the next millennium. A recent ruling by the WTO has axed one of the world's most important sea turtle protection measures.

In 1996, Earth Island won a lawsuit that compelled the government to enforce an Endangered Species Act (ESA) provision barring import of wild caught shrimp into the US, unless that shrimp is caught in nets equipped with Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) or comparable methods.

A TED is a simple, inexpensive device that can reduce the needless drowning of sea turtles by more than 97 percent. TEDs also benefit marine biodiversity by reducing the catch of non-target species by up to 60 percent. US shrimpers are required by law to use TEDs.

All seven species of sea turtles have been listed as endangered, threatened, or vulnerable. It is estimated that 150,000 sea turtles drown in shrimp nets every year.

Sixteen nations have improved their fishing practices and policies to gain access to the lucrative US market. Fisherman across the world now are harvesting shrimp while protecting sea turtles.

Unfortunately, four nations challenged the US TED law at the WTO in 1996, claiming that this environmental protection measure was an unfair barrier to trade.

The WTO is an undemocratic, unaccountable body whose purpose is to promote unfettered trade at any cost. Unlike the United Nations, the WTO does not allow public participation. WTO panel meetings are held in secret and the rulings withheld from public scrutiny to avoid timely criticism or analysis. [Flash! STRP has obtained these secret WTO's minutes and has posted them on the Earth Island website, www.earthisland.org.]

In disputes around trade and the environment at the WTO, the environment always loses. The WTO, in its earlier form, ruled against dolphin-safe tuna and the US Clean Air Act.

In 1997, more than 250 scientists from 30 nations sent a letter to the WTO arguing that science, not economics, should be the basis for decisions related to the international protection of endangered species.

This April, a panel of WTO trade bureaucrats decided that the US law designed to protect sea turtles violates the rules of the trade organization. This decision will leave the US with three choices: Change environmental laws to comply with "free" trade rules, pay financial reparations to the turtle-killing countries equal to the value of lost trade, or get out of the WTO.

A broad international movement that has sprung up to oppose this ruling includes groups from Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Costa Rica and Thailand. Some 30,000 people have called the White House to protest the US's lack of environmental resolve on this issue. In May, a broad coalition of US-based environmental organizations placed an ad in the New York Times asking the President to show leadership on this issue. At this writing, the White House has yet to even commit to appeal the decision.

What You Can Do: Write President Clinton [White House, Washington, DC 20500] asking him to defend the existing international turtle protection law, refuse to pay financial reparations to nations who refuse to use turtle- protective technology and, if the environment cannot get a fair shake, to withdraw from the WTO. To learn more about this issue, visit our web site at www.earthisland.org/strp/strpindx.html