February 4, 2022 — The U.S. House of Representatives passed the American COMPETES Act on Friday, 4 February on a near party-line vote.
The USD 350 billion (EUR 305.6 billion) spending bill tackles supply chain and trade issues included several fishing provisions from other bills – including the expansion of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) to cover all species that enter American ports.
February 3, 2022 — A report released by Oceana on Tuesday, 1 February, calls on the U.S. to expand the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), saying that the federal legislation designed to prevent fraudulently labeled products and specimens harvested from illegal fishing practices from entering the country includes too many loopholes.
The 36-page report notes a report by the U.S. International Trade Commission found that of the seafood imported into the U.S. in 2019, USD 2.4 billion (EUR 2.13 billion) worth was fished illegally. Examples of illegal fishing include crews harvesting fish in unpermitted areas, exceeding catch limits, mislabeling products, and using forced labor.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
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.
December 16, 2021 — More than 100 scientists signed a letter sent to Congress on Monday, 13 December, urging lawmakers to ensure that all seafood products imported into the United States are caught using legal means.
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is often associated with human trafficking and other human rights abuses, and distant-water fishing forces vessel owners and operators to extend trips to “achieve a sizeable catch,” the university professors, research fellows, and scientists claimed in the two-page letter. In order to get that kind of catch, some operators will use forced labor and harvest fishing stocks beyond allowable limits, they alleged.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
August 9, 2021 — A recent committee meeting started the discussions on a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California) to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and slave labor in the seafood supply chain.
The bill, H.R. 3075, was covered during a recent meeting of the Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee. It would enact the expansion of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) to cover all seafood and seafood products – the program, initiated in 2016, originally included tuna, king crab, blue crab, red snapper, Pacific and Atlantic cod, dolphinfish, grouper, sea cucumber, swordfish, and sharks in its coverage requirements, with shrimp added in 2019.
May 25, 2021 — NOAA Fisheries has published a report on the implementation of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) and detailed how the initiative to deter illegal and unregulated seafood products from entering the country can be fine-tuned in the years ahead.
Among the possibilities is the use of predictive analytics, which other government agencies have used to fight fraud. The report states that giving authorities that technology will help it better identify shipments for inspections or audits.
May 21, 2021 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:
The National Fisheries Institute opposes any illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. We appreciate NOAA’s focus on ridding the globe of pirate fishing. We are pleased that today’s report on the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) highlights the fact that, “the majority of SIMP audits do not identify noncompliance,” and that of non-conformances “only a small number rise to the level that they warrant enforcement action.” NFI looks forward to working with NOAA to improve any information discrepancies found in entry filings.
We note that NOAA’s report clearly states, “SIMP does not prevent or stop IUU fish and fish products from entering U.S. commerce.”
In fact, NOAA highlights that, “most of the issues that have been found relate to issues apparent from the documents themselves (e.g., vessel permit dates do not match harvest dates, documents are missing).”
In the report NOAA Fisheries emphasizes it remains “focused on maintaining the risk-based nature of SIMP.” Calls for expanding SIMP to all species undercut this focus on risk.
The seafood community estimates it has spent over $50 million on SIMP regulatory and paperwork compliance for just the 13 species covered by the program, a burden on an industry working to feed Americans during a time of recovery. SIMP expansion would impose hundreds of millions of dollars of annual expense for a program that “does not prevent or stop IUU fish and fish products from entering U.S. commerce.”
May 12, 2021 — Two U.S. congressmen have filed legislation that would expand the role of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) to include all species, including shrimp.
U.S. Representatives Jared Huffman (D-California) and Garret Graves (R-Louisiana) unveiled the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act on Tuesday, 11 May. The purpose of the legislation is to better connect illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing to forced labor practices in the seafood trade, and to bolster the effectiveness of SIMP.
April 7, 2021 — Seafood caught via illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and fishing involving forced labor amounting to USD 2.4 billion (EUR 2 billion) was imported into the United States in 2019, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.
The 18 March report, “Seafood Obtained via Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing: U.S. Imports and Economic Impact on U.S. Commercial Fisheries,” suggests the U.S. government does not have effective controls in place to limit IUU-sourced product from entering the country.
March 8, 2021 — Marine sustainability non-governmental organization Oceana public on 3 March calling for the expansion of the U.S. Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) and for mandatory full-chain traceability requirements for all seafood sold in the United States.
The report, “Transparency and Traceability: Tools to Stop Illegal Fishing,” criticizes the current limitations of SIMP, in that the law currently applies to just 13 types of imported seafood and traces them to the U.S. border, not beyond. Extending SIMP to cover all seafood species sold in the United States, and requiring that all be covered by full-chain traceability from boat to plate, would reduce species mislabeling and help in the fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, Oceana said.