February 2, 2022 — Today, 55 members of the Saving Seafood Coalition added their names in opposition to seafood import monitoring provisions in H.R. 4521, the America COMPETES Act, that would impose “a blizzard of paperwork and insurmountable compliance burdens on processors, distributors, restaurants, and grocery stores.”
Earlier this week, a diverse group of thirteen seafood organizations representing fisheries from across the nation wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking that these provisions be removed from the bill.
The provisions, Sections 70101 to 70131, would expand the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) to include all seafood species regardless of risk of illegal fishing, and extend it down the entireS supply chain. These sections draw heavily from H.R. 3075, portions of which were opposed by nearly 120 commercial seafood industry stakeholders in a letter last September.
The letter points to testimony from Janet Coit, NOAA’s Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, in its opposition to SIMP expansion. In a hearing last July, Ms. Coit testified, “The current risk-based approach to SIMP allows NOAA to target our existing resources on those fish and fish products most likely to come from IUU [illegal, unreported, and unregulated] fishing.” Proposed changes to SIMP “would require NOAA to shift resources and reprioritize activities,” Ms. Coit said.
H.R. 3075 has not been considered by the numerous committees of jurisdiction in the House and is not ready for inclusion in a legislative package being prepared for a vote by the entire House of Representatives, the letter states.
“We strongly urge you to remove Sections 70101 to 70131 from H.R. 4521 and enable their consideration through regular order,” the Saving Seafood Coalition members wrote.
The letter was delivered to Speaker Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.