NOAA Urged to Expand Seafood Import Monitoring Program

March 29, 2023

Three U.S. House of Representatives members are calling on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to expand and update the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), and are advocating as well for SIMP expansion to all species.

Rep. Jared Huffman, ranking member of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries, Natural Resource Ranking Member Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Jimmy Panetta, also of California, led a letter to NOAA commenting on what they see as shortcomings of recent NOAA proposed rulemaking on SIMP. Other signers of the letter included representatives from California, Texas, North Carolina and Hawaii.

The March 27 letter said that as the world’s largest seafood-importing country that the United States has the purchasing power and the responsibility to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fisheries, and human rights abuses in the fishing industry.

“The limited scope of the current proposed rule may prevent NOAA from addressing several key outstanding issues,” their letter said in part. “A supplemental proposed rule with a stronger interagency and public review process is a step in the right direction.”

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By:  staff
Source: Fishermen’s News