Red snapper. (Photo: Stock File)

Court rejects industry's lawsuit against traceability program of seafood imports

A federal court ratified on Monday a new rule that will require seafood importers of species like tuna, grouper, swordfish, red snapper and blue crab to provide specific information before their products can enter the United States (US).

District judge Amit Mehta decided against a lawsuit filed in January this year by the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) and eight individual seafood companies, claiming, among other things, that the new rule breached the federal law and that their firms would be harmed by its implementation.

The new rule -- called Seafood Import Monitoring Program or Seafood Traceability Rule -- will take effect in January 2018 and will require importers to provide data including what kind of fish it is, as well as how and where it was caught or farmed.

Besides, some imported seafood deemed at risk of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and seafood fraud will have to be fully documented and traced from the fishing vessel or farm to the US border.

“This ruling is a huge win for US fishermen and consumers who are cheated when illegally caught or mislabeled seafood products make their way into our markets,” said Beth Lowell, senior director for illegal fishing and seafood fraud at Oceana.

“It’s time for imported seafood to be held to the same standards as domestically caught fish. It’s time to level the playing field for US fishers and reduce the risks facing US consumers. All seafood sold in the US should be safe, legally caught and honestly labeled,” Lowell added.

The NFI and the complaining firms had argued, among other things, the the final traceability rule of marine products had been signed by “a low-level bureaucrat” without the authority to do so.

In June Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross ratified the rule at the request of the judge, resolving that claim.

In May Oceana (represented by Earthjustice), the Center for Biological Diversity and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a joint amicus brief in support of the Seafood Traceability Rule.

“This is a major victory against the illegal fishing that’s devastating many fish populations and killing imperiled wildlife like turtles and porpoises around the world,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Currently, the US imports more than 90 per cent of its seafood and a recent study estimated that between 20 per cent and 32 per cent of wild-caught seafood crossing the American borders comes from IUU fishing.

In this regard, Molly Masterton, an attorney with the Oceans Program at NRDC, deemed this new rule as a major advance because by shedding a light on these elusive activities and empowering agencies to take enforcement action, it will protect the oceans, along with US and international fishermen who play by the rules.

“If you believe that you are what you eat, you need to have confidence in what you're eating,” said Steve Mashuda, an attorney at Earthjustice representing Oceana in the case.


[email protected]
www.seafood.media

Address:	7918 Jones Branch Drive, Suite 700
City:	McLean
State/ZIP:	Virginia (VA 22102)
Country:	United States
Phone:	+1 703 752 8880
Fax:	+1 703 752 7583
E-Mail:	[email protected]
Skype:	https://www.instagram.com/nfimedia/
More about:

Print