An on-demand video of the 2025 Seafood Expo North America (SENA) panel “Making Critical Connections in the Seafood Supply Chain” is available free for SeafoodSource Premium members and for USD 350 (EUR 303) to non-members through the Complete Digital Ticket: Seafood Expo North America 2025.
A panel of experts including Stimson Center Senior Fellow and Director Sally Yozell, FishWise Director of Programs Sara Lewis, and E.U. IUU Fishing Coalition Coordinator Thomas Walsh took on the topic in a panel advertised as follows:
In November 2023, NOAA Fisheries withdrew its proposed rule revising the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) and started a comprehensive review.
To “reimagine” the future of SIMP and help define a pathway forward for an efficient and effective seafood traceability-based import control program, the Stimson Center and FishWise co-hosted a series of workshops to crowd source expert ideas and innovations. Attended by representatives from the U.S. government, fishing industry, technology providers, importers, civil society, and the European Union, several major themes emerged to improve SIMP.
This session will review the key ideas surrounding SIMP 2.0 including risk targeting and predictive analytics, key data elements, and the potential for an E.U.-SIMP hybrid import control model. It will also highlight NOAA Fisheries’ latest activities on import controls, the regulatory landscape, their new Global Seafood Data System, and other actions being taken to prevent IUU and fraudulent fish from entering the U.S. market.
In November 2024, NOAA Fisheries issued a new SIMP Action Plan outlining future actions designed to make SIMP more efficient and effective.
Discussion will also focus on trends across the seafood industry and with international governments as actors work to align and combat IUU fishing, seafood fraud, and forced labor in the global seafood supply chain.
This year’s SENA, which took place 15 to 17 March in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., featured a comprehensive conference program of live panel events focusing on topics chosen to be of vital interest to the seafood industry.
The more than 25 individual presentations from SENA featured exclusive information and insight from seafood industry experts on a range of topics, including diversity in the seafood industry and how the sector can best navigate current economic, energy, and trade policies.
