The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries has announced its plan to ban seafood imports from countries that fail to meet U.S. environmental standards, starting on Jan.1,
The move comes after NOAA extended its deadline three times for countries to enact regulations that would achieve comparability with the Marine Mammal Protection Act under which U.S. fishermen work.
In early September, NOAA Fisheries released lists of countries that have regulations aligned to U.S. standards, as well as those countries that don’t meet U.S. requirements. However, not all U.S. fishermen agree with NOAA’s findings.
The industry group Southern Shrimp Alliance salutes the bans on wild-caught shrimp from some Mexican fisheries and those of several other countries, but spokesperson Debbie Long says U.S. shrimpers are still dismayed that shrimp imports are not blocked from several countries responsible for the most product coming into the U.S.
“We feel they’ve been given a pass,” says Long. “Over 98 percent of the value of imported wild-caught warm water shrimp in 2024 came from just seven countries, and NOAA Fisheries approved almost all of their operations, even when those same fisheries have been documented as harming marine mammals.”
Long notes NOAA Fisheries issued a final report approving the Argentine red shrimp fishery, which accounts for 61.3 percent of total wild-caught shrimp imports, without addressing concerns about its adverse impact on marine mammal populations.
While Mexico’s blue shrimp and yellowleg shrimp fisheries are banned, the country’s Gulf fishery has been approved, said Long. Mexico accounts for 25.4 percent of wild-caught shrimp imports into the U.S.
“NOAA Fisheries approved two Mexican trawl operations, claiming they’re ‘analogous to the Southeast U.S. shrimp trawl fishery,’” says Long. “However, the final report only identifies an observer program in place for one of these two fisheries. NOAA Fisheries also repeats, without further comment, an unbelievable claim from the government of Mexico that ‘there are no documented interactions with marine mammals in (the shrimp trawl) fishery.’”
While Peru accounts for only 2.3 percent of U.S. wild-caught shrimp imports, that still amounts to over 4 million pounds that will be allowed into this country. Long notes that the association has asked for a ban on Peruvian shrimp due to turtle interactions.
“In May, the State Department revoked Peru’s Section 609 certification ‘because its sea turtle protection program is no longer comparable to that of the United States,’” says Long. “Published reports also indicate that commercial fisheries in Peru have adversely impacted marine mammal populations, yet NOAA Fisheries issued a comparability finding despite noting that there is no observer program in place for the country’s commercial shrimp fishery.”
According to Long, “a cursory review of NOAA Fisheries’ comparability determinations raises substantial concerns about the standard applied by the agency to these foreign shrimp fisheries.”
