The Indian Union Commerce and Industry Minister Mr. Piyush Goyal and US trade representative Katherine Tai recently meet in Washington on 11th January, 2023. Mr. Goyal said on the meeting that “India-US trade policy forum made it easier for businesses to trade and invest between the two countries”.
At the end of the 13th India-US TPF meeting, Mr. Goyal said, “We have revitalized TPF in a new form that has a strong focus on results. This understanding will be creating a better business environment and more trust between the countries.”
Mr. Piyush Goyal said India and the US are working on a system where Indian shrimp can be exported for American consumers.
There was a news conference took place following the India-US Trade Policy Forum meeting, which Mr. Goyal co-chaired with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Goyal said, “We had discussions about restarting wild-caught shrimp exports from India to the US.”
According to him, the US had prohibited fishing in these places in India because of turtle safety concerns.
A turtle exclusion device (TED) has been designed with the technical assistance of the NOAA from the US, and that design has now been accepted between the two countries,” he said.
What is a Turtle Excluder Device?
Turtle excluder devices, or TEDs, help protect sea turtles by making sure trawl fishing gear doesn’t interact with them.
These devices can be set into trawl nets. It’s made of metal bars and mesh. When larger animals bump into the metal grid, they can escape through a rip in the mesh. But shrimp will go between the bars to the back of the net.
The modern TED made of a metal bar grid attached to a trawl net. Shrimp and other small animals are caught when they travel through the grid and put the fish into a mesh bag at the end of the trawl. The TED redirects more giant creatures like sea turtles when they enter the trawl net, allowing them to escape via an aperture at the top or bottom of the net. Turtles can be kept out of shrimp trawls with 97 percent efficiency with the current TED designs. NOAA Fisheries experts are working with shrimp fishers to ensure they use the most efficient methods to reduce bycatch.
Minister Piyush Goyal said; “Trials of the devices are now in progress. He asserted that the machine’s testing would guarantee that the turtle excluder device would lessen the effect of fishing on the population of sea turtles.” So shrimp from wild-caught can be shipped from India to the US. We are expecting these experiments in India will be finished by the next few months.
Mr. Goyal added that the Indian shrimp had good taste and was well received in the American market, which has good prospects for trade between the two nations.
Tariq Iqbal
Khulna, Bangladesh
