Pescanova USA guilty of import violations

Pescanova USA has pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Miami to importing nearly 97,000 kilograms of Chilean sea bass valued at about USD 1.2 million (EUR 945,100) in violation of the Antarctic Marine Living Resources Convention Act, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) reported on Tuesday.

The case involves four containers of frozen Chilean sea bass, also marketed as Patagonian toothfish, landed at Port Everglades, Fla., in December 2009.

According to court documents, Pescanova USA violated the act by failing to adhere to the catch-documentation scheme adopted by the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CAMLR), to which the United States is a participant. CAMLR is responsible for protecting marine resources in the Southern Ocean.

According to court documents, Pescanova USA failed to submit a pre-approval application to NOAA’s National Seafood Inspection Lab for the four containers at least 15 working days before the anticipated date of import, failed to obtain pre-approval prior to import, and submitted belated applications void of complete and accurate information regarding the quantity of Chilean sea bass imported and the flag-state confirmation numbers.

U.S. District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro set sentencing at 17 November. Pescanova faces a criminal fine of up to USD 500,000 and corporate probation of up to five years. Based in Coral Gables, Fla., Pescacnova USA is the U.S. arm of Spanish seafood giant Pescanova.

The case was investigated by the OLE and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Watts-FitzGerald.

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