A new Interagency Seafood Trade Task Force is seeking input from individuals and companies in the United States seafood and fishing industry as it begins examining ways to boost the competitiveness of domestic seafood.
The task force was created on 7 May, when U.S. President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth. The new task force is to be co-chaired by the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative (USTR), or their designees.
A key part of that designated task is providing a wide number of recommendations on seafood trade strategy to the office of the USTR within 90 days, including recommendations on how to improve access to foreign markets through policies or negotiations, resolving technical barriers to U.S. seafood exports, and supporting fair market access for U.S. seafood to other markets. In addition to those recommendations, the order calls for a “comprehensive interagency seafood trade strategy” within 90 days.
“America needs a vibrant and competitive seafood industry to create and sustain American jobs, put safe and healthy food on American tables, and contribute to the American economy,” the executive order states. “Despite America’s bountiful aquatic resources, by weight our nation imports over 85 percent of the seafood consumed in the United States. At the same time, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing undermines the sustainability of American and global seafood stocks, negatively affects general ecosystem health, and unfairly competes with the products of law-abiding fishermen and seafood industries around the world.”
Now, the Federal Register has posted that the National marine Fisheries Service, along with NOAA, are seeking input to meet those goals. Jim Sanford, the U.S. trade representative for market access and industrial competitiveness, and Andrew Lawler, the deputy assistant secretary for international fisheries, are tasked with working closely “with interagency partners to develop a comprehensive interagency seafood trade strategy,” according to a release from NOAA.
Other members include, according to the Federal Register: “The Secretary of State; the Secretary of the Interior; the Secretary of Agriculture; the Secretary of Homeland Security; the Director of the Office of Management and Budget; the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy; the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy; the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade; the Commissioner of Food and Drugs; the Administrator of NOAA; and the heads of such other agencies and offices as the Co-Chairs may designate.”
Relevant companies have been asked to include a set of information detailed in the posting on the federal register, which can be submitted to NOAA.
