September 23, 2025 — Western Pacific fishery managers are pressing federal regulators to crack down on seafood imports that don’t meet US standards for protecting marine mammals.
At its meeting last week, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council urged NOAA to strengthen newly finalized Marine Mammal Protection Act Import Provisions, which were published earlier this month in the Federal Register. The Council called for stricter benchmarks when reviewing foreign fisheries and requested a transparent process that allows for public and stakeholder input.
The import rules, first authorized in 1972 but only now being fully enforced, are meant to block seafood products from countries that fail to meet US requirements for reducing marine mammal bycatch, according to the Council. For the first time, NOAA has issued Comparability Findings that will ban imports from certain nations and fisheries starting Jan. 1, 2026 — affecting roughly 15% of U.S. seafood imports.