The U.S. government has signed a legal agreement to settle a lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), and the Animal Welfare Institute demanding regulators block imports from foreign fisheries that are not adequately protecting marine mammals.
“I’m relieved other nations will finally be pressured to prevent whales and dolphins from getting caught in fishing nets. Entanglement is a huge threat to these animals’ survival,” CBD International Program Director Sarah Uhlemann said in a statement. “The United States has the power to use its enormous seafood market to help the world’s oceans, and it’s about time we started.”
The U.S.'s Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) requires foreign fisheries to implement the same protections for marine mammals as U.S. fisheries before exporting to the U.S., but the U.S. government has repeatedly pushed back enforcement.
In 2023, NOAA Fisheries pushed back the enforcement date to 2026, claiming that it needed more time to review applications from 2,500 fisheries.
“After careful deliberation, the Department of Commerce and [NOAA Fisheries] have determined that additional time is necessary to complete the evaluation process, given the large number of foreign fisheries, the evolving nature of fisheries data, and the practical challenges of assessing the comparability of the regulatory programs in foreign countries,” NOAA Fisheries said at the time.
Unsatisfied with that explanation, in 2024, NRDC, CBD, and the Animal Welfare Institute sued the federal government in the U.S. Court of International Trade, asking the court to force U.S. regulators to begin banning imports from fisheries where too many threatened species are being killed as bycatch.
The court approved an agreement between the government and the conservation groups 16 January, ending the lawsuit.
“This settlement marks a significant step forward for marine mammal welfare,” Animal Welfare Institute Marine Wildlife Program Director and Senior Attorney Georgia Hancock said in a statement. “Bycatch not only affects marine mammal populations but also raises serious animal welfare concerns. While most animals entangled in fishing gear die by drowning, those who escape often suffer prolonged injuries, such as cuts, broken bones, or amputations and die weeks or months after their entanglement.”
The agreement doesn’t change the government’s planned start date for enforcing the MMPA provision – 1 January 2026 – but it does lay out the steps the government plans to take this year in the lead up to that date.
According to the agreement, in December 2024, NOAA Fisheries notified nations that have not engaged with the MMPA process or nations that NOAA Fisheries expects will have their fisheries products banned, giving them until 1 March 2025 to provide evidence to change regulators’ minds.
Similarly, in January, the government notified all nations that have one or more fisheries expected to be banned under the new enforcement regime, giving them until 1 April to submit any information that could overturn the preliminary determination.
NOAA Fisheries will issue final comparability findings on 1 September 2025.
“Today’s agreement will ensure some relief for threatened marine mammals suffering from bycatch, level the playing field for fishermen working hard to protect marine mammals, and give consumers more confidence that the seafood they consume does not needlessly kill the whales and dolphins they love,” NRDC Senior Attorney Zak Smith said in a statement.
