NMFS Receives Petition to Ban Certain Imports of Swordfish
The National Marine Fisheries Service received a petition1 requesting that the Secretary of the Treasury ban imports of swordfish from any and all countries that have not satisfied Section 101(a)(2) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
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(MMPA Section 101(a)(2) (16 USC 1371(a)(2)) requires (1) the Treasury Secretary to ban the importation of all commercial fish or products from fish which have been caught with commercial fishing technology which results in the incidental kill or incidental serious injury of ocean mammals in excess of U.S. standards; and (2) the Secretary of Commerce to insist on reasonable proof from the government of any nation from which fish or fish products will be exported to the U.S. of the effects on ocean mammals of the commercial fishing technology in use for such fish or fish products exported from such nation to the U.S.)
The petition states that the Secretaries have failed to obtain reasonable proof from countries exporting swordfish and swordfish products to the U.S. regarding the effects of their commercial swordfish technology on marine mammals.
1The petition was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network.
- general comments on the petition, as well as comments on how to define "U.S. standards" as referenced in MMPA section 101(a)(2), are due by 01/29/09
NMFS contact - Lekelia Jenkins (301) 713-9090, x 131
NMFS notice (FR Pub 12/15/08) available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-29653.pdf
Petition available at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/docs/swordfish_petition_l-4.pdf