TED Case Studies

Turtle Excluder Devices

          CASE NUMBER:         127
          CASE MNEMONIC:      TEDS
          CASE NAME:          Turtle Excluder Devices

I.        IDENTIFICATION

1.   The Issue

     Five species of sea turtles regularly spend part of their
lives in U.S. coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf
of Mexico.  Turtles are ancient reptiles who appeared on earth
millions of years before humans and are now endangered or
threatened and are protected under the Endangered Species Act. 
One major means of turtle mortality is their drowning in shrimp
fishing trawls.  The National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS)
estimates that 11,000 turtles drown annually.  Instead of
swimming away from an approaching net, turtles try to outswim
the trawl but get caught in the net as they tire.  After ten
years of studying this problem, NMFS has developed turtle
excluder devices (TEDs) for use by commercial fishermen.

2.   Description

     TEDs are panels of large mesh webbing or metal grids
inserted into the funnel shaped shrimp nets.  As the nets are
dragged along the bottom, shrimp and other small animals pass
through the TED and into the cod end of the net, the narrow bag
at the end of the funnel where the catch is collected.  Sea
turtles, sharks, and fish too large to get through the panel
are deflected out an escape hatch.  Fishermen, who believe that
the device causes their nets to dump 20 percent or more of the
shrimp as well, call them "trawler eliminator devices."

     Sea turtles breathe air just as land animals do and must
come to the surface every hour or so.  Without a TED, they are
trapped in a net for as long as it is towed underwater
and sometimes drown before being brought aboard.  The problem
is analogous to the seining of tuna fish, in which thousands of
dolphins are drowned every year (see TUNA and TUNA2 cases). 
The government's requirement for the use of TEDs has become one
of the most bitterly fought regulations in the history of
fisheries management.

      The National Marine Fisheries Service (June, 1987)
published a final rule requiring all shrimpers to begin using
TEDs by May 1988.  For Cape Canaveral, Florida fishermen the
deadline was October, 1987 and shrimpers in certain parts of
the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico were required to use the
devices by the beginning of 1988.

     Mexico and 13 other Central and Southern American nations
are following the lead of U.S. shrimpers and are using TEDs,
mainly because the US Department of State has required under a
1989 law (Section 609 of P.L. 101-162) that the US would ban
the import of shrimp from any country not taking adequate
measures to conserve sea turtles in commercial shrimp
fisheries.  The San Francisco-based ecology group, Earth Island
Institute, filed a lawsuit to enforce the sea turtle protection
law more widely.  The top shrimp exporters to the U.S. are
India, Indonesia, Thailand, Mexico, Malaysia, Korea and Japan. 

     Opponents of TEDs regulations say the evidence of turtle
mortality due to shrimp fishing may be inflated and "sketchy at
best."  Some lawmakers report that the regulations could cost
the shrimping industry millions of dollars and completely put
some shrimpers out of business.  

     TEDs have proved successful in Cape Canaveral Florida,
where reports show that fishermen there have reported no loss
in shrimp catches, and no major problems.  Environmentalists
say that TEDs can reduce fuel costs because they exclude not
only turtles, but also non-shrimp species that often outweigh
shrimp by ten to one.  TEDs would also result in better quality
shrimp because the shrimp would not be battered and crushed by
unintentional catch.

     To the charge by shrimpers that traditional fishing
techniques will be affected, Representative John Dingell (D-MI)
compared the current complaints with earlier protests against
efforts to protect porpoises.  "The tuna industry sent up
similar clamor.  The sky was about to fall, the American tuna
industry remains a strong one, and the number of porpoises
drowned...has been reduced by 95%."

3.        Related Cases

     TUNA case
     TUNA2 case
     SHRIMP case
     GREEN case
     GREEKTUR case
     HAWKSBIL case

     Keyword Clusters

     (1): Trade Product            = TURTLE
     (2): Bio-geography            = OCEAN
     (3): Environmental Problem    = Species Loss Sea [SPLS]

4.        Draft Author: Catherine Sebold

B.        Legal Clusters

5.        Discourse and Status: AGReement and COMPlete

6.        Forum and Scope: USA and BILATeral

7.        Decision Breadth: 15

     The 1989 law is intended to extend the protection given to
sea turtles under U.S. regulations to other areas these turtles
inhabit throughout the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and western
central Atlantic (the wider Caribbean).  The countries affected
by the law are Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, French
Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.  

8.        Legal Standing: LAW

C.        Geographic Clusters

9.        Geographic Locations

     a.  Geographic Domain: North America [NAMER]
     b.  Geographic Site: Caribbean [CARIB]
     c.  Geographic Impact: USA

10.  Sub-National Factors: NO

11.  Type of Habitat: OCEAN

D.        TRADE Clusters

12.       Type of Measure: Regulatory Standard [REGSTD]

13.  Direct vs. Indirect Impacts: DIRect

14.  Relation of Trade Measure to Environmental Impact

     a.  Directly Related:    YES TURTLE
     b.  Indirectly Related:  YES SHRIMP
     c.  Not Related:         NO
     d.  Related to product:  YES Species Loss Sea [SPLS]

15.  Trade Product Identification: SHRIMP

     Six species of shrimp are harvested in large numbers.  The
Brown and White and Pink shrimp form the bulk of the fishery in
the southeast.

16.  Economic Data

     In 1988, 331 million pounds of shrimp worth $506 million
were landed in the United States. (The rest of the 802 million
pounds eaten in this country that year came from elsewhere). 
More than 30,000 commercial fishermen and their families rely
on shrimp, and many times that number work in shoreside
processing plants.

17.  Impact of Measure on Trade Competitiveness: LOW

     One source notes a 6 percent loss of shrimp harvest due to
the requirement to use TEDs.

18.  Industry Sector: FOOD

19.  Exporters and Importers: USA and MANY

     The Department of State certified that 13 countries in the
wider Caribbean region have taken initial steps to protect sea
turtles from capture and drowning in their shrimp fishing
operations.  The Department's certification is required under a
1989 law (Section 609 of P.L. 101-162) that would ban the
import of shrimp from any country not taking adequate measures
to conserve sea turtles in commercial shrimp fisheries. 
Because a certification could not be made for Suriname, shrimp
imports from that country were prohibited as of May 1, 1991. 
In 1988, only 302 million pounds of shrimp eaten in the United
were landed at home.  The remaining 802 million pounds eaten in
the U.S. were landed elsewhere.

E.        ENVIRONMENT Clusters

20.       Environmental Problem Type: SPLS

     According to National Marine Fisheries Services estimates,
approximately 48,000 sea turtles are caught each year on shrimp
trawlers in the Southeast and approximately 11,000 die.  Of
those, about 10,000 are loggerheads and about 750 Kemp ridleys. 
The extrapolation comes from 27,500 observer hours during which
800 turtles were caught; approximately 25 percent were dead
when they hit the deck.  While sea turtles have suffered major
population declines, the Kemp ridley's are in the most trouble. 
They nest on only one beach, near Rancho Nuevo, Mexico, where
they have declined from 40,000 nesting females a day in the
late 1940s to 10,000 in 1960 and then to little more than 500
in the 1980s.  the decline continues at a rate of about 3
percent per year.  The species may be extinct by the turn of
the century.  Since the nesting beach is now protected, shrimp
nets are the major suspect. 

21.  Name, Type, and Diversity of Species

          Name:          Turtles
          Type:          Animal/Reptile
          Diversity:     Ocean

     Six species of turtle are in danger: Kemp's Ridley,
Loggerhead, Green Turtle, Hawksbill, Leatherneck, and Olive
Ridley (see SHRIMP, HAWKSBIL and GREEN cases).  All life stages
of sea turtles are susceptible to human-induced mortality. 
Direct human interventions, such as beach armoring, beach
nourishment, beach lighting, and beach cleaning, can reduce the
survival of eggs and hatchlings in and on the beaches.  The
most important human associated source of mortality is
incidental capture in shrimp trawls.  Mortality from shrimping
lies between 5,000 and 50,000 loggerheads and 500-5,000 Kemp's
ridleys each year.  Next in importance are the deaths due to
dredging, and collisions with boats: an estimated 50-500
loggerheads each and 5-50 Kemp's ridleys each.  Oil-rig removal
could account for 10-100 turtle deaths per year, and deaths
from intentional harvest of turtles in U.S. coastal waters and
entrained by electric power plants are judged each to be fewer
that 50 per year.

22.       Resource Impact and Effect: HIGH

     Kemp ridleys are expected to be extinct by the turn of the
century.

23.       Urgency of Problem

24.       Substitutes: SYNTHetic

     Mexico and 13 other Central and South American nations are
following the lead of U.S. shrimpers who, since 1989, have been
required to use TEDs.  TEDs are trap doors that are attached to
the shrimp fishing nets and reduce the "by-catch" of sea
turtles and other fish by 97 percent.

F.        OTHER Factors

25.       Culture: YES

     Sea turtles were widely used by humans in earlier times
for food, ornaments, and leather, and they are still used these
ways in many societies.  Intentional harvest of sea turtles in
U.S. waters is prohibited by the Endangered Species Act. 
Similar protection has been implemented in Mexico, but
enforcement in imperfect.  Intentional harvest of sea turtles
and their eggs continues to occur throughout the Caribbean
region, including Puerto Rico.

26.       Trans-Boundary Issues: YES

     Of the 14 nations and territories participating in the US-
funded TED training programs, all but one, French Guiana, have
committed to using TEDs on all boats by May 1994.  The US State
Department argues that extending the law beyond areas where US
shrimp trawlers work would be unfair.  

     "It could effect shrimp imports from more than 80 nations
totaling as much as $1.8 billion -- more than 75 percent [by
value] of all shrimp consumed in this country.  The impact of
the resulting embargoes would be unprecedented,"  Secretary of
State James Baker III said in a 1990 report to Congress.

     Similar to the tuna embargo, there is opposition to
widening the shrimp ban because the US is perceived as forcing
its environmental laws on other nations (see TUNA and TUNA2
cases).  The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade has ruled
the tuna embargo an unfair trade restriction.

     Earth Island Institute in San Francisco is working on a
United Nations draft resolution to bring TEDs into wider use. 
"That way, its not the US telling other countries what to do. 
Its an international effort," according to the Institute's Todd
Steiner. 

27.       Rights: YES

      Fishermen see TEDs as one more hardship in an industry
already stretched to the breaking point by high fuel and
insurance costs, overfishing, and competition from cheap
foreign shrimp raised in ponds or caught by subsidized vessels. 
Thousands showed up in auditoriums in places like Biloxi,
Mississippi, to vow civil disobedience against what they still
perceived as a threat to their survival.  "Perhaps some species
were just meant to disappear," said Governor Edwin W. Edwards
of Louisiana, to thunderous applause.  He continued, "If it
comes to a question of whether it's shrimpers or the turtles--
bye-bye turtles."

28.       Relevant Literature

"Shrimpers Get Turtles on the Half Shell."  The Environment.
     September, 1989, 23-24.
"House OKs Protection of Species (even turtles)"  BioScience.  
     March, 1988, 162.
Scott, David Clark.  "Stung by US Tuna Ban, Mexico Protects 
     Turtles."  Christian Science Monitor.  May 14, 1992, 7:3.
Strong, Sara.  "Battle to Save Sea Turtles Cooling."  Christian
     Science Monitor.  October 18, 1989, 8:2.
"Turtle Kill Sparks Hunt for Shrimpers evading U.S. Law."   The
     Washington Post.  July 22, 1990, A, 9:1.
Rudloe, Jack and Anne.  "Shrimpers and Lawmakers Collide Over a
     Move to Save the Sea Turtles."  Smithsonian.
     December, 1989, 44-55.
"Decline of the Sea Turtles : Causes and Prevention."  National
     Academy of Sciences.  April 23, 1990.
US Department of State Dispatch 2.  May 6, 1991.

                          References