| Media Note Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC January 10, 2007 Sea Turtle Conservation and Shrimp ImportsOn January 10, 2007, the Department of State certified Madagascar and re-certified Nigeria as meeting the requirements set by Section 609 of P.L. 101-162 for continued importation of shrimp into the United States. Section 609 prohibits importation of shrimp and products of shrimp harvested in a manner that may adversely affect sea turtle species. This import prohibition does not apply in cases where the Department of State certifies to Congress that the government of the harvesting nation has taken certain specific measures to reduce the incidental taking of sea turtles in its shrimp trawl fisheries -- or that the fishing environment of the harvesting nation does not pose a threat to sea turtle species. Such certifications are based in part on verification visits made to countries by teams of experts from the State Department and the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. The chief component of the U.S. sea turtle conservation program is a requirement that commercial shrimp boats use sea turtle excluder devices (TEDs) to prevent the accidental drowning of sea turtles in shrimp trawls. Madagascar and Nigeria join fourteen other countries (Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Suriname, and Venezuela) as meeting this standard. At the time Nigeria was de-certified, U.S. officials proposed specific actions that could be taken to restore comparability to the U.S. program. A follow up verification visit in September of 2006 confirmed that the Government of Nigeria is now enforcing its TEDs program in a credible manner. The Department also announces that Madagascar has adopted a TED program comparable to that of the United States and is enforcing its program in a credible manner. Accordingly, the Department of State hereby certifies Nigeria and Madagascar pursuant to Section 609(b)(2)(A) and (B). As with the other countries currently certified, the Department of State will remain in close contact with the governments of Nigeria and Madagascar in order to ensure that their respective shrimp harvesting methods do not threaten sea turtles. Sea turtle excluder devices can be 97 percent effective in excluding sea turtles from trawl nets, and have resulted in an estimated 11 percent increase per year in some endangered sea turtle nesting populations in the Gulf of Mexico.
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