Saving Seafood

US government settles vaquita, totoaba suit with pledge to make decision on Mexico import ban

April 10, 2023 — The U.S. Department of the Interior has arrived at a settlement of a lawsuit demanding it certify Mexico as not adequately protecting the critically endangered totoaba and vaquita porpoise.

The lawsuit, which was filed in 2020 in the U.S. Court of International Trade by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Animal Welfare Institute, demands the U.S. government certify Mexico under a U.S. law called the Pelly Amendment, which would allow the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to embargo the import of wildlife products from Mexico, including shrimp and fish. The U.S. imported around USD 745 million (EUR 687 million) of seafood from Mexico in 2022.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US files 1st USMCA environment case on Mexico over porpoise

February 11, 2022 — The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office filed the first environmental complaint against Mexico Thursday for failing to protect the critically endangered vaquita marina, the world’s smallest porpoise.

The office said it had asked for “environment consultations” with Mexico, the first such case it has filed under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade pact. Consultations are the first step in the dispute resolution process under the trade agreement, which entered into force in 2020. If not resolved, it could eventually lead to trade sanctions.

Mexico’s government has largely abandoned attempts to enforce a fishing-free zone around an area where the last few vaquitas are believed to live. Nets set illegally for another fish, the totoaba, drown vaquitas.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that “USTR is committed to protecting the environment and is requesting this consultation to ensure Mexico lives up to its USMCA environment commitments,” adding “We look forward to working with Mexico to address these issues.”

Read the full story at AP News

Appeals court blocks another US gov’t effort to overcome Mexico gillnet import ban

November 30, 2018 — The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Wednesday shot down an effort by the US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and other federal agencies to end a four-month-old ban on the import of Mexican shrimp and other seafood caught in the country with the use of gillnets.

The decision to reject a “stay of the order” request backs a US Court of International Trade (CIT) ruling, issued in July, that was sought by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Center for Biological Diversity and Animal Welfare Institute as part of an effort to protect the endangered vaquita porpoise in the northern Gulf of California from being driven into extinction by pressuring the Mexican government.

Widely decimated by the use of gillnets in pursuit of the totoaba — another endangered fish sought for its swim bladder due to black market demand in China — there are believed to be a little more than a dozen vaquita remaining.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Mexico extends gillnet ban to help save endangered porpoise

June 1, 2017 — Mexico’s agriculture and fisheries department says it is extending a ban on gillnets in much of the upper Gulf of California as part of an effort to save the endangered vaquita porpoise.

A Wednesday statement from the department says it will continue to provide monetary and other support for fishermen affected by the measure.

Despite Mexico’s campaign to help the porpoise species, estimates of remaining vaquitas have dropped below 30.

Vaquitas are often caught in nets illegally set to catch totoaba fish, whose swim bladder is prized in China.

The World Wildlife Fund says the measure won’t be enough to save the vaquita. It says a permanent ban and recovery efforts are needed.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Southern Illinoisan