Saving Seafood

US conservation groups challenge MMPA comparability findings for several foreign fisheries

May 26, 2026 — Three U.S. conservation groups have challenged NOAA Fisheries’ approval of seafood imports from eight nations, arguing that they have not implemented protections for marine mammals that are comparable to those in force in the U.S.

“The United States can save the lives of countless whales and dolphins getting caught in fishing gear around the world, but only if it enforces the law,” Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) International Program Director Sarah Uhlemann said in a release. “This litigation should result in a seafood import ban for the eight nations, and the governments will have to crack down on deadly bycatch to get back into the lucrative U.S. seafood market.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

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