February 8, 2016 — The National Marine Fisheries Service announced last week that it is implementing a new tracking program for seafood imports to help combat illegal fishing and seafood fraud.
Importers will have to track where fish were caught, the type of gear used and where it was landed.
Director of the Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspections John Henderschedt said the federal government wants a better record of who is catching seafood and where it’s landed before it shows up in U.S. stores.
“We do not have laws that allow us to gather the data to ensure that we can carefully examine the legality of catch and the chain of custody of that product as it makes its way to the U.S.,” Henderschedt said.
The proposed program applies to about 13 different types of fish, including Pacific cod, red king crab, shrimp, sea cucumber and others. Eventually, Henderschedt said it could be expanded to more species.
Henderschedt said NMFS already has that information for domestic seafood, so fishermen and processors here won’t be asked to do anything differently. For now, consumers won’t have the new information about imported seafood.