Fishy Business: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Finalizes Seafood Traceability Rule

For years, the seafood industry has grappled with the issue of “seafood fraud,” which includes the substitution of cheaper species for more expensive ones. As previously covered on this blog, on February 5, 2016, the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a proposed rule to establish a new traceability program for certain seafood species associated with a high risk of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and seafood fraud. The “at risk” list represents approximately 40% of U.S. seafood imports by value.

On December 9, 2016, NOAA published a final rule (81 FR 88975) which formally establishes a “Seafood Import Monitoring Program” comprising permitting, reporting and recordkeeping procedures relating to the importation of certain fish and fish products, identified as being at particular risk of IUU fishing or seafood fraud. The goal of the program is to curb the import of products from IUU fishing and to decrease the incidence of seafood fraud.

The mandatory compliance date for most priority species listed in the final rule is January 1, 2018.