NOAA Proposes Seafood Import Monitoring Expansion

Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a proposed rule to expand the Seafood Import Monitoring Program.  The risk-based program is for targeted species of seafood imported into the United States.  NOAA said expanding the program would increase the number of species included in the program from approximately 1,100 individual species to approximately 1,600 individual species.  The program currently establishes reporting and recordkeeping requirements for nearly half of all U.S. seafood imports to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and misrepresented seafood from entering U.S. commerce.

The proposed expansion includes red snapper and tuna, to include all species in the snapper family and additional tunas, to minimize the risk of mislabeling and product substitution that is used to bypass requirements. In addition, the rule proposes to add cuttlefish and squid, eels, octopus, queen conch and Caribbean spiny lobster to the program.  The rule also proposes to make additional modifications and improvements.

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