Statement on WTO "Shrimp/Turtle"
Ruling
Against the United States
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By: Center for International Environmental Law, Center for Marine Conservations, Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation
April 6, 1998 -- The World Trade Organization decision undermines legitimate efforts by the United State to conserve wildlife threatened with extinction. There is no economic, scientific or legal justification for the WTO ruling.
This WTO decision exposes the failure of current international trade rules to adequately balance trade and environmental priorities. The U.S. must take immediate and forceful action to correct this imbalance.
In making this ruling, the WTO ignored it's own charter with contorted legal reasoning that would never stand up in a U.S. court of law. The WTO charter explicitly allows nations to pass laws to conserve natural resources as long as those laws also apply within their own borders. The U.S. has done this with sea turtle protections since 1990.
The WTO failed to recognize that turtle excluder devices (TEDs) do not constitute an undue economic burden on shrimpers. The device can cost as littls as seventy-five dollars (US$) and reduces fuel costs for boats. The U.S. has even helped many nations in the Caribbean and elsewhere adopt the devices. These are hardly the actions of a nation trying to block fair trade.
The WTO also refused to recognize the essential role of TEDs in preventing the extinction of sea turtle species and ignored the urgent need for international action to protect an important global resource. Drowning in shrimp nets is a main reason why sea turtles are on the brink of extinction, and TEDs are more than 95 percent effective in preventing these drownings.
When the United States agreed to join the WTO in 1994, Americans were assured that measures were in place to fairly balance trade and the environment. Unfortunately, the U.S. has failed to assure that this balance was achieved. This ill-reasoned decision -- made virtually in secret by a three-person panel with little expertise on the issue -- is the result. Free trade as it is being practiced today is giving free trade a bad name.
We call on the Clinton Administration to act now: Continue to enforce
a law proven to economically save endangered turtles. Work to ratify and
expand the successful regional agreements already in place to protect
endangered sea turtles. Strongly push the World Trade Organization to
adhere to its own rules and open its complaint review process beginning
at the upcoming WTO Ministerial Meeting May 18-20 in Geneva. The
nearly 90 percent of Americans who polls show want environmental protections
preserved with any free trade agreement are watching.