Agriculture & Food

Regulations Governing the Taking and Importing of Marine Mammals

🇺🇸United States··Final Rule·Medium Impact·View source ↗

AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.

🇬🇧 English

This rule reinstates the definition of 'Export fishery' in U.S. regulations to identify foreign fishing operations likely to cause harm to marine mammals when exporting to the United States. It affects international commercial fishing businesses that wish to export fish to the U.S. by requiring compliance with U.S. marine mammal protection standards.

AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Refer to official sources for legal decisions.

Key Changes

  • Reinstatement of the 'Export fishery' definition
  • Identification of foreign fisheries likely harmful to marine mammals
  • Requirement for foreign fisheries to adhere to U.S. standards

Obligations

What this law requires

high

Foreign commercial fishing operations classified as 'Export fisheries' must report on the likelihood of incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammals during their operations.

foreign commercial fishing operations
reporting
high

Foreign commercial fishing operations that wish to export fish to the U.S. must comply with U.S. marine mammal protection standards as determined by the Assistant Administrator.

foreign commercial fishing operators
operational
critical

Foreign commercial fishing operations must provide reliable information regarding the frequency of incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammals to be classified appropriately under the List of Foreign Fisheries.

foreign commercial fishing operators
reporting
medium

Foreign commercial fishing operations not identified as 'exempt fisheries' in the current List of Foreign Fisheries are deemed 'Export fisheries' until the next List is published.

foreign commercial fishing operations
operational
medium

The Assistant Administrator may request additional information from harvesting nations regarding the frequency of incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammals caused by commercial fishing operations.

harvesting nations
disclosure

Affected Parties

International commercial fishing businessesU.S. seafood importers

Tags

marine mammals,fisheries,import regulations