The United States is India’s biggest overseas seafood market, with an export revenue share of 34.53% – in USD. In the last five years, however, India suffered a loss of $500 million after the US ban on its export of wild-caught shrimp, as reported by the Marine Products Export Development Authority.
The ban was imposed in 2019 on the grounds that Indian trawler vessels were not using Turtle Excluder Devices and that the devices in use did not meet the US National Marine Fisheries Service standards.
A Turtle Excluder Device is a simple grid of deflector bars installed before the cod end (narrow end) of a trawl net at an angle leading upward or downward into an escape opening. Small animals such as shrimp will slip through the bar spacing and are retained in the net, while large fish and mammals are prevented entry, allowing them to escape through the opening. This also allows air-breathing marine turtles to avoid capture and subsequent death from prolonged entrapment in the trawl net.
Under Section 609 of the US public law, wild-caught shrimp or products from wild-caught shrimp harvested with commercial fishing technology that may adversely affect protected sea turtle species may not be imported into the US.
Wild-caught shrimp fetches double the price in international markets, and hence, the ban had a huge impact on India’s seafood export revenue. According to the information provided by the Marine Products Export Development Authority to Mongabay India, the ban has reduced the unit value of wild-caught shrimp exported to other markets from $9.87/kg to $5.68/kg (42% drop). The ban is causing a loss of Rs 4,500 crore every year, as per official communication from Marine Products Export Development Authority.
Sea turtles are a protected species in India under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. As per the Marine Fishing Regulation Acts in most maritime states, the usage of Turtle Excluder Devices is mandatory for fishing nets of mechanised trawler vessels to allow for the escape of bycatch sea turtles. However, real-world implementation has been limited, leading to a ban after inspections by the US officials in 2018 and 2019 on behalf of their Seafood Import Monitoring Program.
As a signatory to the 1995 Food and Agriculture Organisation Code of Conduct, India is bound to conduct research, develop appropriate devices and practices, and implement regulatory measures for the protection of endangered sea turtles.
Now, five years after the ban, Marine Products Export Development Authority and ICAR – Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR-CIFT) – have designed and built an indigenous Turtle Excluder Device, which has received the approval and recommendation of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Preventing turtle bycatch
In 2019, the US rejected the Turtle Excluder Device used in Indian trawl vessels primarily because it didn’t adhere to the specifications of the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Following the ban, under a project commissioned by Marine Products Export Development Authority, ICAR-CIFT worked with the US to gain approval for their indigenous device.
“We fine-tuned and improved our TED to achieve their standards. We then took it to America for a dive evaluation,” said MP Remesan, principal scientist and head, Fishing Technology Division, ICAR-CIFT. “There they suggested some improvements, which we incorporated, and then demonstrated it at the CIFT research facility in Kochi in February 2024, when they visited and gave their approval.”
The Central Institute of Fisheries Technology reports that the dive evaluation of the turtle excluder device revealed excellent sealing of the escape opening, ensuring no shrimp catch loss. “Remarkably, the catch obtained was clean as the TED [turtle excluder device] with two floats lifted the cod end above the sea bed, which had a washing effect on the cod end,” adds Remesan.
Marine Products Export Development Authority has initiated onboard field trials in Odisha using the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-approved design, and “results have been very positive, showing comparatively less catch loss, better appearance of the catch, reduced waste materials in the cod end, and successful escape of turtles,” the organisation shared in a statement to Mongabay India.
ICAR-CIFT had initially adopted the US recommended dimensions to suit Indian conditions, increasing the bar spacing of the turtle excluder device from four inches (101.6 mm) to 145 mm, but received strong pushback from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“Our main purpose was to reduce catch loss. We increased the bar spacing from ∼100mm to 145mm to let in more fish. But NOAA pushed back saying, if the bar spacing is too big, small turtles can go inside. But such an incident has never happened, we’ve not seen small turtles captured in trawl nets anywhere in India,” says Remesan.
Fishers sometimes get big fish or species like rays during trawling, which they are reluctant to lose, says Remesan. He thinks the reversion to a four-inch bar spacing turtle excluder device can be a cause for concern for fishers. “In a temperate country like the US where there is only shrimp trawling, four-inch spacing is more than adequate, but in a multispecies fishery like ours, our people want other fish too. They don’t want to lose anything, be it shrimp, fish, or squid. So, when we reduce bar spacing, our people won’t like it,” he explains.
However, CIFT had to comply with the US recommendation and reversed the bar spacing of their indigenous turtle excluder device to four inches, which essentially prevents entry of larger fish species such as rays.
Trawlers and turtles
Trawling is India’s most important fishing sector, contributing about 52% of the total marine fish production in the country. In 2022, the estimated average annual fish catch from trawlers was about 2.027 million tonnes. While bottom trawling is an efficient fishing technique for demersal populations such as shrimp, the non-selective nature of trawl nets results in a large number of non-target resources being captured, including protected and endangered species such as sea turtles.
“The incidental capture of turtles in trawl nets is a cause for concern,” Remesan says. “It happens mostly on the east coast, in Odisha. But it is not like we can say there is no turtle bycatch in other parts of India,” he adds.
According to Peter Mathias, president, All Kerala Fishing Boat Owners’ Association, India’s western coast has a very limited population of sea turtles. “In Kerala, on the western coast in general, the presence of turtles is very low. At the same time, they are present in huge numbers in Odisha and West Bengal,” he says, adding: “The rough seas of Kerala, rampant shore erosion, and the wide presence of seawalls means that there are very few open places for these turtles to breed. Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute studies have shown this, too.”
A 2018 Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute study recommends that trawl fishers in the Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts of Kerala should be mandated to fit turtle excluder devices, whereas further north, the west coast does not warrant the use of these devices. Upon request for a breakdown of turtle bycatch figures, Marine Products Export Development Authority told Mongabay India via email that “precise and consistent data on turtle bycatch in Indian trawl fisheries is limited.”
“When we fish for 100 days, not even on a single day do we capture turtles. Now even if by chance, a turtle enters the trawl net, our fishermen ensure to release it back to the sea,” claims Mathias.
Concerns about sustainable and responsible practices in the Indian trawling sector still exist. “The same issue was there 10-20 years ago. We didn’t have a TED [turtle excluder device] then; MPEDA [Marine Products Export Development Authority] imported Super Shooter TEDs [turtle excluder device] from America and tried it on our vessels. But the catch loss proved to be too big – up to 10, 15, or even 20 percent. Nobody will agree to that amount of catch loss. That is how we came to develop our own TED indigenously at CIFT,” explains Remesan.
MPEDA-NETFISH (Network for Fish Quality Management and Sustainable Fishing) is responsible for creating awareness among fishermen and kickstarting turtle excluder device adoption at the ground level. Awareness camps and live demonstrations are being organised across all major harbours to sensitise trawl boat fishers and stakeholders on the urgency of turtle excluder device implementation.
“We tell them clearly why we want to implement TEDs. We explain the implications of the US ban, the drop in export revenue, and how their harbour rates have slipped. We then show them photos and videos of the TED demonstration to showcase its advantages, before we do a live demonstration,” shares a senior MPEDA official who didn’t want to be named.
Benefits and concerns
The marked advantages of fitting a turtle excluder device on trawler nets make it an easy sell, according to the Marine Products Export Development Authority official. “From trials, we can show how catch quantity has increased because the catch comes to the cod end without any debris. Consequently, dragging pressure has decreased, which means lesser diesel consumption. Plus, the conservation of sea turtles. It makes absolute sense to implement TEDs,” he says.
Awareness camps have begun in Kerala from the first week of 2025, but trawl fishers in the state are far from sold on the idea of fitting turtle excluder devices to their nets. Mathias raised concerns about catch loss. “Losing fishes larger than four inches will be a huge loss for the fishermen. Not only that, the widespread presence of plastic and other waste off the Kerala coast would mean blocking of the TED opening and consequent loss of smaller fish varieties as well,” he says. He also questioned the claim of decreased diesel consumption from TED use. “The device is close to 11 kg in weight, so when we fit this to the cod end of the trawl net, there will be resistance and diesel consumption is only bound to increase.”
Mathias argues that imposing turtle excluder devices on Kerala’s fishers is unfair, as turtles are not present in their waters. He believes agencies like Marine Products Export Development Authority should conduct proper studies to inform the US, rather than shifting the burden onto Kerala’s fishermen.
When asked about concerns over catch loss, the Marine Products Export Development Authority official dismissed it as speculation. “MPEDA and CIFT worked with the US to make the TED [turtle excluder device]. How would they know if there is more catch loss? It is pure speculation. TED has only increased the catch. There is no question of loss, only advantages,” he says. In contrast, CIFT took a more measured stance, with an official statement reading: “Higher market prices due to the lifting of the export ban, along with turtle conservation, can offset any minimal, infrequent financial losses.”
After the 2019 ban, India proposed state- or region-wise certification under Section 609 of the US Public Law to incentivise other states to get certified, thereby accelerating the national certification process. However, the US rejected this approach, stating they would lift the ban only once turtle excluder devices are implemented nationwide.
While the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has not set a timeline for turtle excluder device implementation in India, Marine Products Export Development Authority considers it an urgent priority to resume wild-caught shrimp exports to the US to safeguard the livelihoods of millions of Indian fishers.
The Marine Products Export Development Authority official points out that the timeline for turtle excluder device implementation across all trawl gears is set for January 2025, with hopes to invite US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials for Section 609 certification and verification by September 2025.
This article was first published on Mongabay.
