The Port Arthur Area Shrimpers’ Association (“PAASA”) and the Southern Shrimp Alliance jointly requested that the U.S. Department of State (“State Department”) re-visit and suspend the certifications granted to Peru and Guatemala under Section 609 of Public Law 101-162.
Based on a law enacted in 1989, the Section 609 program is intended to ensure that shrimp harvested in a manner that harms endangered sea turtles is not imported into the United States. Under the program, the State Department, working with officials from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) Fisheries, certifies countries and/or individual fisheries as being in compliance with Section 609’s requirements and therefore eligible to supply the U.S. market with shrimp.
Despite its thirty-five year history, enforcement of the Section 609 program has been lax, with large volumes of wild-caught shrimp from nations without certifications imported into the United States each year. In order to better assess the extent to which this shrimp continued to enter the country, the Southern Shrimp Alliance petitioned the federal government for revisions to the Harmonized Tariff Scheduled of the United States (“HTSUS”) to differentiate between imports of wild-caught versus farm-raised shrimp, with these changes taking effect in July 2021.
As explained in the State Department letter from PAASA and the Southern Shrimp Alliance, official U.S. import data for the HTSUS codes covering wild-caught shrimp indicates that significant quantities are entering the United States from countries without Section 609 certifications. For example, over the last eighteen months, wild-caught shrimp worth over $6.8 million has been imported from Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Venezuela, all countries that lack a certification from the State Department.
At the same time, the trade data also indicates that enforcement actions have been taken to address illegal imports from other countries, particularly China, India, and Vietnam. NOAA Fisheries has recently published information regarding the refusal of wild-caught shrimp from China and Vietnam through Operation Shrimp Cocktail for non-compliance with Section 609, while official U.S. import data demonstrates a massive decline in imports of Indian wild-caught shrimp.
The decline in imports of Indian wild-caught shrimp has occurred simultaneous to efforts undertaken by the Indian government and Indian commercial fishing industry to implement the use of turtle excluder devices (“TEDs”) in their trawling fleet. Public reporting in India indicates that this initiative is the direct result of the denial of market access under the Section 609 program. Similarly, public reporting in the Philippines indicates that both the Philippine government and the Philippine commercial fishing industry are also exploring ways to meet the requirements of Section 609 following recent refusals of shipments of shrimp from their country. Neither India nor the Philippines has ever previously been certified under the Section 609 program.
Should India and the Philippines meaningfully adopt measures to address the incidental taking of endangered sea turtles, the Section 609 program will once again prove that access to the U.S. market can be effectively used as leverage to substantially improve commercial fishing practices overseas. According to academic researchers, the adoption of TEDs in foreign trawl fisheries has been tied directly to the Section 609 program. For example, the long-term efforts of NOAA Fisheries and the State Department have helped to regularize the use of TEDs in Panama, supporting over $27.4 million in imports of wild-caught shrimp from that country since July 2021. In Guyana, the Section 609 program incentivized corrections to shortcomings in the country’s adoption of TEDs resulting in steady improvements in utilization and culminating in a reported 100 percent pass rate last year. These efforts have supported over $16.7 million in imports of wild-caught shrimp from Guyana since July 2021.
Nevertheless, while the U.S. shrimp industry welcomes and supports the enhanced efforts of the federal government to enforce the Section 609 program, PAASA and the Southern Shrimp Alliance believe that certain certifications lack justification. In 2020, the Southern Shrimp Alliance raised concerns regarding the Section 609 certification granted to China, providing the State Department with information regarding observed adverse impacts of China’s shrimp trawling on endangered sea turtles. Later that year, the State Department announced that the certifications awarded to China and Venezuela were being suspended.
Current available data indicates that the certifications awarded to Peru and Guatemala lack justification. Specifically, public information makes clear that the Peruvian commercial shrimping industry has incidental takings of endangered sea turtles yet has adopted no measures to limit the harm caused by these takings. Further, public information indicates that Guatemala records and maintains no data regarding the incidental takings of endangered sea turtles of its shrimp trawl fleet and there appears to be no at-sea enforcement checks for compliance with TED requirements. Based on this information, PAASA and the Southern Shrimp Alliance have requested that the certifications awarded to Peru and Guatemala be suspended in the annual certification determination to be made by the State Department in 2025.
As PAASA and the Southern Shrimp Alliance explain, effective enforcement of Section 609 is important to the U.S. shrimp industry for two reasons. First, the program levels the playing field with respect to the regulations imposed on American shrimpers by requiring similar measures to be adopted by commercial fishermen working in foreign waters. Second, because sea turtles are migratory animals, the program recognizes that any benefits obtained through protective measures taken in the United States may be entirely wiped out by sea turtle deaths caused by foreign fisheries.
For these reasons, the U.S. shrimp industry is grateful for the leadership of Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) in working to obtain dedicated funds to support NOAA Fisheries enforcement efforts under the program in the report accompanying the Senate’s Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2025. In that report language, the Senate Appropriations Committee observed that it was “concerned that the [Section 609] requirement is not being effectively enforced, placing global sea turtle populations at significant risk.” The Committee also instructed NOAA Fisheries to report on the implementation and enforcement of the Section 609 program in its Biennial Report to Congress.
“For decades now, American shrimpers have had to work with turtle excluder devices,” said Captain Kyle Kimball, President of the Port Arthur Area Shrimpers’ Association. “The Section 609 program puts foreign fishermen who want to sell into this market on equal footing with us. This is a simple issue of fairness and we are grateful to the State Department and NOAA Fisheries for improving enforcement over the last few years.”
“The Section 609 program proves that access to our market can be used to improve the production practices of our foreign trading partners. The end result of enforcement improves things for everyone involved at minimal cost,” said John Williams, the Executive Director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “And yet, too often, federal agencies have refused to use this essential tool for spurious reasons. We are thrilled to see the Section 609 program’s positive impact on global fisheries and hope that other federal officials are paying attention.”
Read the Port Arthur Area Shrimpers’ Association and the Southern Shrimp Alliance’s August 21st Letter to the U.S. Department of State regarding the Section 609 program here:https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/PAASA-and-SSA-Letter-to-State-Department-re-Section-609-Program-Aug-2024-1.pdf
Read the “Sea Turtle Conservation” portion of S. Report 118-198, Report to Accompany S. 4795, Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill 2025 (July 25, 2024), found at pages 43 and 44 here: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/FY25-CJS-Senate-Report.pdf
About the Southern Shrimp Alliance
The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) is an organization of shrimp fishermen, shrimp processors, and other members of the domestic industry in the eight warmwater shrimp producing states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.
