NMFS to Ban Fish Imports From Countries Without 'Comparable' Marine Mammal Protections
The National Marine Fisheries Service will ban imports of fish and fish products that have not demonstrated comparability with U.S. marine mammal protections, under a final rule (here) implementing import provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Under the new regulations, the NMFS will publish a "List of Foreign Fisheries" in the Federal Register, updated every four years, of countries eligible to export fish to the U.S., taking into account public comments and information submitted by the exporting country. NMFS will allow a grace period of five years from the effective date of this final rule, i.e., until Jan. 1, 2022, before import restrictions under the first list take effect, though the agency may set emergency restrictions on fish imports before the grace period is over, it said.
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Fisheries listed as eligible for importation by NMFS will fall under two classifications. “Exempt fisheries” that have a low probability of harming marine mammals will only have to show they prohibit intentional killing or injury of marine mammals or that they have procedures to certify that any fish or fish products exported to the U.S. are not the product of intentional killing or injury of marine mammals. "Export fisheries" will also have to demonstrate implementation of a regulatory program comparable in its effectiveness to U.S. regulations on accidental killing and injury of marine mammals.
The final rule takes effect Jan. 1, 2017. Following the effective date, NMFS will publish a proposed fisheries list for public comment. NMFS says its five-year grace period, running from the effective date of the final rule, will allow countries that currently export to the U.S. time to develop regulatory programs sufficient to obtain a comparability finding. The agency will allow further comment in the year before the grace period ends before it publishes the final list. By the end of the grace period, if the NMFS has not found a country to be comparable then its fish and fish products will be banned from importation into the United States. Comparability findings will be up for renewal every four years following similar notice-and-comment procedures, the NMFS said. Countries that are new to exporting fish and fish products to the U.S. will be allowed a one-year “provisional” comparability finding in order to apply for and receive an NMFS comparability finding, the agency said.
(Federal Register 08/15/16)