While Trinidad and Tobago and Panama have been dropped from the list of countries eligible to export wild shrimp to the United States because of concerns about conservation of endangered turtles, Venezuela has been given the green light.

 

The January 5 media note details the department's December 21 decisions that impose an embargo on wild shrimp imports from Trinidad and Panama.  Venezuela joins the group of countries whose exports are certified as eligible because their shrimpers' practices pose no harm to endangered sea turtles.

 

Trinidad and Panama join a few other countries lacking State Department certification that could otherwise export wild shrimp to the US market.  Those countries include Bangladesh, Haiti, India, Indonesia and Nigeria. Some had requests for certification rejected; others never sought it.

 

Uncertified countries are still eligible to export to the United States shrimp raised by aquaculture.

 

The State Department certifies countries, most of them around the Caribbean, that require their shrimpers to employ turtle-excluder devices to protect the turtles, measures comparable to requirements imposed on US shrimpers.

 

The department also certifies countries whose shrimpers ply cold waters where the threat to turtles is negligible.  Other countries are certified because their shrimpers employ manual rather than mechanical means to harvest shrimp or conduct the harvest in ways not harmful to turtles.