According to journalistic versions, Conapesca and the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection disappeared at the end of 2018 the training program for captains and crews of fishing boats on the use of TEDs, one of the necessary requirements to export to the United States.
The United States government today completed the withdrawal of Mexico’s certification on shrimp fishing, after determining that the country’s offshore fleet does not have Sea Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs), For this reason, it de facto imposed an embargo on imports of the crustacean in the high seas in Mexico.
In a notice published today, the State Department’s Office of Oceans and International and Scientific Environmental Affairs indicated that the US authorities suspended Mexico’s certification “because its sea turtle protection program is no longer comparable to that of the United States.” , while it did renew the certifications of other countries.
The withdrawal of the certification implies the closure of the main export destination of Mexican shrimp, in a fishing industry that in 2018 sold the crustacean to the United States for $ 275 million; the measure prevents the export of shrimp caught in the high seas, but does not include animals harvested through aquaculture.
This action was seen to come: at the end of March, the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission (Conapesca) had already warned that, in visits to Mexico to verify compliance with the turtle protection regulations, the US authorities found evidence of a “Inappropriate use of TEDs”
The ports that will be reviewed as a priority are: Mazatlán, Puerto Peñasco, Tampico, and Campeche, according to preliminary information from the United States Government.
The verification visits that were carried out by NOAA and the United States Department of State were:
• November 18-22, 2019, Mazatlán, Sinaloa and San Blas, Nayarit.
• February 25-27, 2020, was Puerto Chiapas and Salinas Cruz.
• October 27-29, 2020 in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora.
• January 24 to 31, 2021 in Tampico, Tamaulipas; Lerma, Campeche; and Puerto Juárez, Quintana Roo.
From these visits, observers from the United States determined certain observations related to deficiencies in the instrumentation of the TED NOM in about 106 observed networks.
Annual total shrimp exports to the United States reached 30 thousand tons in 2019, with a value of 300 million dollars. Of this volume, six thousand tons were exported from May to September.
According to journalistic versions, Conapesca and the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) disappeared at the end of 2018 the training program for captains and crews of fishing boats on the use of TEDs, one of the necessary requirements to export to States. United.
Source: proceso.com.mx, riodoce.mx
