NOAA Fisheries Plans to Enhance Seafood Import Monitoring
NOAA Fisheries on Nov. 14 introduced a new plan to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing while at the same time strengthening the sustainability of seafood, and globally addressing forced labor issues.
The announcement came in the wake of a comprehensive review of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) completed in November 2023, involving over 7,000 stakeholders, including seafood industry professionals, foreign governments, researchers and civil society groups.
“Our goals are to strengthen the U.S. domestic seafood industry by promoting fair trade practices in the global seafood supply chain while building capacity to maintain and grow the program,” NOAA Administrator and Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Richard Spinard said.
“Once implemented,” he added, “the changes to our Seafood Import Monitoring Program … will fundamentally improve our ability to prevent and deter IUU fish and fish products from entering our market and will contribute to U.S. government efforts to address labor abuses in the seafood supply chain.”
Spinard revealed that NOAA Fisheries plans to expand SIMP traceability requirements to all U.S. seafood imports by creating a two-tier system that prioritizes species based on their risk level and enable pre-entry screening of SIMP imports.
The agency also plans to develop a pilot program for a voluntary government-to-government import data program.
NOAA Fisheries said that it plans to work with partner agencies to take a more proactive approach to identify and prevent products produced with forced labor from entering U.S. markets by strengthening partnerships with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Labor.
The agency said those plans include addressing administrative challenges, while updating permitting and reporting procedures.
Plans also include strengthening internal operations by stabilizing and expanding the program team and enhancing data systems to better process and analyze seafood import information.
A proposed rule is to be issued, with opportunity for public comment, with a final rule to follow, including internal improvements to be rolled out as resources allow.
Dates for issuance of the proposed and final rule were not announced.
Source: https://fishermensnews.com/noaa-fisheries-plans-to-enhance-seafood-import-monitoring/
