June 13, 2011

 

US renews ban on Costa Rican shrimp for third year

 

 

The US will maintain its embargo on the import of Costa Rican shrimp for a third straight year.

 

While environmental groups consider the ban a victory, members of the shrimp sector feel the embargo is unjustified and unfair.

 

In late May, the US State Department's Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science renewed the ban on the US.import of Costa Rican shrimp for a third consecutive year. Since May 1, 2009, not one shrimp caught in Costa Rican waters has been exported to the US, which was the crustaceans' biggest consumer prior to the passing of the embarg. The ban will be reassessed in April 2012.

 

The renewal of the ban, which is now the sixth US trade embargo placed on Costa Rican shrimp since 1999, is accompanied by polemic response. Several organisations, such as the Marine Turtle Restoration Program (Pretoma) and ocean preservation organisation MarViva, celebrated the continued ban as a victory for other ocean species, particularly endangered sea turtles, which they say are often caught and killed in shrimp nets.

 

"Irresponsible shrimping is an extremely devastating practice to the other species and ocean floor. About 95% of what shrimpers catch in their boats gets discarded, and studies show that shrimpers discard about 9,000 tonnes every year," said Randall Arauz, Pretoma's president.

 

"It has a tremendous impact on ecosystems, as well as a devastating affect on artisanal fisherman who are trying to do the right thing and fish responsibly. One drag of the net of the shrimping boat and the entire practice of sustainable fishing is ruined. There is really no room for shrimping anymore in Costa Rica," he said.

 

Arauz, who has led the charge against Costa Rican shrim practices for more than a decade, said that the ban is "well deserved" and that the method of shrimp capture continues to plague national waters.

 

But shrimpers and members of Costa Rican Fisheries Institute (Incopesca) vehemently disagree with Arauz. According to Incopesca Vice President Jorge Niño, who also sits on the organisation's board of directors, the State Department has failed to outline clear regulations for what needs to be done to lift the embargo.

 

"The US government hasn't come to observe the practices of the shrimping boats. We really have no idea what needs to be done to remove the embargo," Niño said. "We are trying to protect the ocean, the environment and the turtles, and we thought that shrimping boats had accomplished all the requisites required to lift the ban. It seems like we are being judged unfairly and it is killing the industry."

 

Niño, who has been a shrimper for more than 50 years in Costa Rica, said that his shrimping fleet of several boats once employed 35-40 people in the Pacific waters off Puntarenas. Currently, Niño said that he employs only three people.

 

"No one really wants to be a shrimper anymore," he said. "It's become too difficult. Everyone wants to run you out. There is almost no interest in the industry left."

 

According to the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (Procomer), Costa Rican shrimp export sales fell from US$4.8 million to US$3.9 million in 2010, an 18.6% decrease from 2009. Export sales of shrimp have fallen in each of the last three years.