India, now the most important provider of America’s favorite seafood — shrimps — has strongly refuted allegations of human rights and environmental abuses raised by a Chicago-based human rights group, and high Commerce Ministry officers will meet seafood exporters on Thursday to debate efforts to scotch such makes an attempt at maligning its international repute.

In 2022-23, India’s seafood exports stood at $8.09 billion or ₹64,000 crore and shrimps accounted for a bulk of those exports at $5.6 billion. India has emerged as one of many world’s largest shrimp exporters and its share within the U.S. market has risen from 21% or $1.3 billion to 40% in 2022-23 with shipments value $2.4 billion, far forward of rivals like Thailand, China, Vietnam and Ecuador.

Terming a report from Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL) that alleges working circumstances in some shrimp hatcheries, rising ponds and peeling sheds, as baseless, a senior official asserted all the worth chain for India’s shrimp exports is licensed by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and there’s no scope for such considerations about abroad shipments. “This seems to be driven by vested interests aimed at maligning the reputation of our aquaculture sector and its products in global markets,” he famous.

About a lakh shrimp farms in Andhra Pradesh alone account for nearly 70% of India’s shrimp output. Women are reckoned to account for 70% of the 8 million-odd jobs within the sector, together with two lakh in hatcheries and aquaculture farms and the remaining in processing and freezing items.

The Ministry, which goals to scale up seafood exports to ₹1 lakh crore by 2025-26, is more likely to advise exporters to fee unbiased research on the working circumstances at shrimp farms to dispel the considerations in main markets just like the U.S. and EU. It has additionally requested the Andhra Pradesh authorities to look into the allegations made within the CAL report, resembling staff dealing with ‘dangerous and abusive conditions’.

“The CAL report selectively highlights isolated instances without verifying their authenticity and attempts to generalise the practices observed in India’s shrimp farming and processing sector,” an MPEDA official added. Apart from regulatory businesses in India which recurrently monitor the shrimp worth chain, there are additionally audits by inspectors of the USFDA, European Commission and the GAC of China, so there’s full compliance with worldwide rules, he underlined.