Saving Seafood

US Court of International Trade orders second look at China tariffs

April 5, 2022 — The U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) has ordered the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to take a second look at its decision making on thousands of Section 301 tariffs levied against Chinese goods.

The 71-page decision by the court, released 1 April, 2022, stems from a lawsuit filed in 2020 by a company that specializes in vinyl flooring. Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S.A.-based HMTX Industries and its affiliated companies filed a complaint with the CIT challenging the authority of former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and the “unlawful escalation” of the trade war with China.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Lawsuit involving US seafood companies seeks to end, refund tariffs on Chinese goods

May 26, 2021 — A lawsuit filed by a company specializing in vinyl flooring against the U.S. Section 301 tariffs on goods from China has led to a slew of other American companies following suit.

Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S.A.-based HMTX Industries and its affiliated companies filed a complaint at the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) in September 2020 that challenges the authority of former U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer. The lawsuit focuses specifically on the “unlawful escalation” of the trade war “through the imposition of a third and fourth round of tariffs on products covered by so-called ‘List 3’ and ‘List 4A,’” the lawsuit states.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

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

Federal court upholds ban on Mexican imports in vaquita case

October 24, 2018 — A federal court has upheld a ruling from July that banned seafood imports from Mexico harvested by a drift gillnet.

The decision by the U.S. Court of International Trade on Monday, 22 October came after Trump administration officials appealed Judge Gary S. Katzman’s temporary injunction against the practice. Conservation groups sued the administration seeking a ban in an attempt to save the vaquita, a small porpoise on the brink of extinction.

The porpoise lives in the Gulf of California and estimates put the species population at around a dozen. However, roughly half the stock dies each year in encounters with gillnets. The Natural Resources Defense Council, the Animal Welfare Institute, and the Center for Biological Diversity filed the lawsuit in March and claimed the acceptance of Mexican seafood caught by those nets violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Court Orders Seafood Import Ban to Save Vaquita

July 31, 2018 — Responding to a lawsuit filed by conservation groups, the U.S. Court of International Trade has ordered the U.S. Government to ban seafood imports from Mexico caught with gillnets that kill the critically endangered vaquita porpoise.

As few as 15 vaquita remain, and almost half the population drowns in fishing gillnets each year. Without immediate additional protection, the porpoise could be extinct by 2021.

This is the life line the vaquita desperately needs, said Giulia Good Stefani, staff attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, who argued the case before the Court.

The ruling follows a lawsuit filed in March by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Center for Biological Diversity, and it affirms Congress’ mandate under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act that the United States protect not just domestic marine mammals, but also foreign whales, dolphins, and porpoises.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive