🚀 go-pugleaf

From: Kathy Brown <JJEFFBROWN@prodigy.net>
Subject: Save Endangered Sea Turtles
Date: Thursday, March 05, 1998 3:29 PM
I'm forwarding an alert I received and hopefully, everyone will find it
important enough to act upon.

NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION E-MAIL ACTION ALERT

It is estimated that over 150,000 sea turtles drown in shrimp nets each year
around the world, making their deaths the largest massacre of endangered
species anywhere on the planet.  As a result of this, and other human-caused
pressures, all eight species of sea turtle are currently threatened with
extinction, and are therefore supposed to be protected by international law.
In an effort to stop these deaths, the National Marine Fisheries Service
developed Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) which are "trapdoors" allowing
turtles and other large animals to pass through shrimp nets.  TEDs are
inexpensive, have been shown to reduce sea turtle mortality by up to 97%,
and have almost no impact on shrimp catch.
Approximately ten years ago, the US government required the use of TEDs for
all domestic shrimp trawlers.  Sea turtles are highly migratory species,
however, and requiring the use of TEDs in US waters only is not enough to
save them.  So, in 1989 the US government mandatd that the US only import
shrimp from countries that take measures to insure that no sea turtles are
harmed while catching their shrimp.  In most cases, this means that
shrimpers wishing to export their catch to the US must use TEDs.  Under this
law, all shrimp which is currently not "turtle-safe" is embargoed.
Recently four Asian nations, Thailand, Malaysia, India and Pakiston, brought
a formal complaint against this embargo to the WTO.  The WTO will decide
this spring whether or not the shrimp embargo violates current trade rules.
If the WTO rules in favor of current free trade agreements at the expense of
the environment, the US would be faced with two unpleasant choices:  we
would be forced to allow the import of shrimp caught in a way that harms sea

turtles, or we would be forced to pay hefty fines on a continuing basis.
The implications of this case are far-reaching, not only for sea turtles but
also for our country's ability to protect other endangered animals and
resources.  If the WTO finds against the US, shrimping practices will
continue to kill sea turtles in mass quantities worldwide.  Furthermore,
many other steps the US chooses to take to protect the environment could
potentially be ruled illegal if they interfere with the WTO's rules on free
trade.  We need your help to make sure that this does not happen.
Contact Renato Ruggiero, Director-General of the WTO, today and tell him
that the sea turtles are an important biological resource and trade rules
cannot be allowed to destroy them.
Renato Ruggiero
World Trade Organization
Rue de Lausanne 154
CH-1211 Geneva 21
Switzerland
e-mail:  gary.sampson@wto.org
fax:  (011) 41-22-739-5620
Write President Clinton and tell him that sea turtles are important and our
domestic laws to protect them cannot be undermined by the WTO's trade rules.
President Clinton
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C.  20500
e-mail:  president@whitehouse.gov
fax:  (202) 456-2461
For more information, contact:
Amanda Johnson, Trade and Environment, National Wildlife Federation
e-mail:  intrade1@nwf.org
(202) 797-6617