Swimming Against the Tide

When the new tariffs came into effect, many consignments filled with shrimps and other types of seafood from India were in transit. Several of these, according to reports, are lying at the port or are in transit, with American buyers who had placed these orders earlier now pulling out of these deals. According to one report, there are over 1,000 tonnes of sea food consignments worth nearly ₹100 crore currently in transit. Mathew has one such con- tainer at a port, which he says will not attract the new tariffs since it landed earlier, but for some unexplained reason, despite several days having passed by, the US authorities haven’t cleared it. “It’s quite strange. The container reached a few days back and they still haven’t cleared it. It’s like they are sending a message,” he says.

With tariffs on Indian shrimp effectively at nearly 60 per cent now, many believe other countries like Ecuador, which is closer and which has been charged a tariff of only about 15 percent, will take over the market once dominated by Indians exporters. “And once you lose out on the American market, and the longer this drags on, it will be very hard to gain it back,” Mathew says.

Pivoting to new markets so quickly will be equally difficult.

“It won’t be easy to get into new markets which have their own well-entrenched networks. And each such market comes with its own set of challenges,” says Tarun Chalamalasetti, who runs SVR Sea Foods.

The boom in shrimp farming in the last few decades has trans- formed coastal landscapes, with mangroves and marshes being turnedtoshrimpfarms,andcausing,accordingtoenvironmental activists, much ecological damage. “This whole boom has come at the expense of the environment,” says Kovada Varalakshmi, the president of the Andhra Pradesh Traditional Fishworkers’ Union. “The government has given subsidies and helped this sector boom, while neglecting traditional farming.” According to her, work for people who were employed at sheds and process- ing plants of exporters, has now dried up. “People get work every alternate week now. And in these jobs, you earn daily wages, like ₹300 to ₹400. So it is very tough. And many of these people are now looking for work elsewhere, like labourers at construction sites in nearby cities,” she says.

Kumar is still keeping his hopes up. “I’m hoping this will be resolved soon, and thet ariffs will be taken back. At least, the 25 per cent that was levied later will be taken back,” he says. “We are just watching for now. I don’t know what else we can do.”