A new set of seafood traceability rules have been introduced in a bid to eliminate illegal fishing imports to the United States.
The rules, announced 17 February, were devised by the National Ocean Council to Combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing and Seafood Fraud, a task force appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama and co-chaired by the U.S. State Department and U.S. Commerce Department.
The new system would be applicable for key U.S. seafood imports such as Atlantic cod, swordfish, shrimp, grouper, mahi-mahi, blue crab, sea cucumber, sharks and yellowfin tuna – species particularly prone to illegal fishing, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the primary regulatory agency overseeing U.S. fisheries.
“Traceability is a key tool for combating illicit activities that threaten valuable natural resources, increase global food security risk and disadvantage law-abiding fishermen and seafood producers,” NOAA administrator Kathryn D. Sullivan told the Associated Press.
The system will collect data on the full chain of custody of fish and fish products imported into the U.S. and will mandate that importers must file international trade permits, giving authorities another method to verify the legality of all seafood imports.
Roughly 600 international fish brokers and 2,000 importers would be affected by the proposed rules. The rules are subject to a 60-day public comment ending on 5 April 2016. Federal authorities are encouraging the public to give feedback regarding the rules.
Evironmental group Oceana applauded the proposed rules, which will help fight illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing within the U.S., but Beth Lowell, Oceana's senior campaign director, said additional qualifications were needed in order to maximize their effectiveness.
“The steps outlined will not fully solve these problems,” Lowell said. “We encourage the administration to include these three key components in the final rule: it needs to apply to all seafood; products need to be traced throughout the entire supply chain to final point of sale; and if there is a phased-in implementation process, there must be a concrete timeline to expand the rule to all species and extend traceability from boat to plate in the final rule.”
A public information session on the proposed rules will take place at the upcoming Seafood Expo North America (SENA) event in Boston on 7 March.
Review the rules in the Federal Register here: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2016/02/05/2016-02216/magnuson-stevens-fishery-conservation-and-management-act-seafood-import-monitoring-program
