U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order and also issued a proclamation on 17 April intended to boost the domestic seafood industry.
One order, “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness,” contains a set of directives for Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) – along with Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – to identify ways to boost commercial fishing, aquaculture, and fish processing by refining regulations.
“Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce shall identify the most heavily overregulated fisheries requiring action and take appropriate action to reduce the regulatory burden on them, in cooperation with the Regional Fishery Management Councils, interagency partners, and through public-private partnerships, as appropriate,” the order states.
That process will include having regional councils identify ways to reduce burdens on domestic fishing, solicit public comment on ideas for improving fisheries management and science within the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), push NMFS to incorporate less expensive technology into fisheries assessments, and assess seafood competitiveness in trade.
Another key part of the executive order will see NOAA revise or rescind recent expansions of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP). NOAA first launched SIMP in 2016 under the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama and recently unveiled an action plan to expand the program in November 2024.
The U.S. seafood industry has long ...
