Indian seafood industry should brace for challenges ahead, say scientists

Scientists speaking to trawl boat owners in Kochi on (July 18) Thursday at a workshop focused on installing Turtle Extruder Devices (TED) to overcome a U.S. market ban on Indian wild-caught shrimp highlighted more challenges ahead for the Indian seafood industry. They said that the U.S. government’s implementation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act from 2026 will pose further hurdles.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act will require all countries exporting seafood to the U.S. market to adhere to the prescribed marine bycatch standards set under the Act. The standards aim to prevent the killing or serious injury of dolphins, whales, and other marine mammals that often become trapped or entangled in fishing nets.

Since August 2019, Indian sea shrimp has been banned in the U.S. owing to concerns that unregulated fishing practices in India had lead to incidental capture and injury of marine turtles in trawl nets. The ban had severely impacted Indian shrimp exports, prompting the country’s seafood industry to swiftly devise a plan to install Turtle Extruder Devices (TEDs) in trawl nets to meet regulatory requirements and mitigate these concerns.

The scientists currently involved in disseminating knowledge about the TEDs said that the Act would pose a great challenge to all seafood exporters to the U.S., including India. They also highlighted the importance of TEDs and their ecological as well as trade implications for the seafood industry.