WTO Case File: The shrimp-turtle case Tuesday, November 23, 1999 POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF At stake: U.S. efforts to protect seven species of endangered sea turtles. Background: Thousands of sea turtles drown every year when they are caught in shrimp nets. The United States requires domestic shrimpers to use protective technology called Turtle Excluder Devices, which are a kind of trap door by which turtles can escape from shrimp nets. In 1989, Congress essentially banned importation of shrimp caught by foreign shrimpers who don't use Turtle Excluder Devices. How the WTO got involved: India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand filed a complaint against the United States in 1996, claiming that the U.S. Turtle Shrimp Law violated international trade law by barring the importation of their shrimp and shrimp products. What the WTO said: The WTO ruled in 1998 against the United States. Among the findings: The United States was discriminating by giving Asian countries only four months to comply with the Turtle Shrimp Law, but giving Caribbean Basin nations three years. The result: The United States revised its guidelines on the importation of shrimp, changing both the method and the schedule by which it evaluates how well foreign shrimpers are doing at protecting sea turtles from drowning. The first beneficiary was Australia, which was allowed under the revised guidelines to export shrimp to the United States. How the United States sees it: Even though the United States lost the case, the Clinton administration claims a partial victory because the WTO recognized the validity of the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The administration claims to have strengthened its protection for sea turtles in two ways: The National Marine Fisheries Service has increased its efforts to provide technical training to other countries in the design, construction and installation of the devices, and the State Department has intensified its effort to negotiate an agreement on sea-turtle protection in the Indian Ocean. How environmentalists see it: Environmentalists say the United States weakened its law protecting shrimp turtles, and created a loophole already being exploited by Australia and Brazil. The Sea Turtle Restoration Project, an environmental group, blames the WTO ruling for the death of 13,000 sea turtles in India last year. Postscript: Environmentalists are now suing the U.S. government over this case.