Suriname has been authorized to once again export products harvested from its drift gillnet fishery to the United States after NOAA Fisheries granted the nation an updated comparability finding.
Beginning this year, the U.S. requires foreign fisheries to secure a comparability finding from NOAA Fisheries showing that they have similar marine mammal protections to the U.S. in order to export seafood products to the country. The agency announced its comparability findings in August 2025, with 240 fisheries from 46 nations denied a comparability finding for not meeting the standards of the U.S.'s Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Those nations were invited to correct any issues identified by NOAA Fisheries and reapply for a comparability finding to regain U.S. market access.
Suriname was awarded comparability findings for all of its fisheries except one – its drift gillnet fishery – “due to its use of large-scale driftnets and the lack of mitigation measures associated with the high-risk gear.”
However, NOAA Fisheries has now updated its comparability finding for the fishery, reporting that Suriname has taken appropriate actions to protect marine mammals and was once again cleared to export products from its drift gillnet fishery to the U.S. According to the updated report, Suriname reduced the maximum length of demersal drift gillnets from 4,000 meters to 1,800 meters, mandated pingers as a bycatch mitigation tool, prohibited the intentional killing of marine mammals, and required marine mammal bycatch reporting.
The government also implemented a new electronic monitoring system for the drift gillnet fishery with support from a FAO Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded project and a grant by the Shell corporation.
“Suriname notes that the electronic monitoring system will allow for the quantification of marine mammal bycatch, provide spatio-temporal data on marine mammal bycatch, and verify other methods of monitoring,” NOAA Fisheries reported.
