Shrimp-Turtle Case

[1] The Earth Island Institute filed a lawsuit against US Secretary of State Warren Christopher in federal court.

The government successfully argued that jurisdiction for anything dealing with embargoes was under the purview of the United States Court of International Trade.

Public Law 609 required (a) the Secretary of State to negotiate and develop a bilateral treaty for the protection of endangered sea turtles, and (b) prohibited the importation of shrimp that was produced without Turtle Excluder Device technology introduced by the National Marine Fisheries Services.

The new technology allowed the capture and harvest of shrimp without ensnaring sea turtles in the indiscriminatory bottom-trawling process.

Tuna sold to the US markets with this label had to comply with requirements determined by US regulations, the Dolphin Protection Consumer Information Act (DPCIA).

After several appeals on both sides, the final report was issued in 2018, which concluded that the regulations underpinning the dolphin-safe labelling qualified as an exception under GATT XX(b) and XX(g), did not discriminate against Mexican tuna, and were calibrated appropriately based on disproportionate risks to dolphins from different fishing methods.

These two cases, Shrimp-Turtle and US-Tuna II, indicate that the WTO now prioritizes the protection of wildlife over the strict adherence to trade agreements.