NMFS Reopens Comments on Marine Mammal Bycatch Import Standards ANPR
The National Marine Fisheries Service is reopening the comment period on its advance notice of proposed rulemaking on developing procedures for evaluating commercial imports of fish and fish products with respect to marine mammal bycatch to implement provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA1).
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Comments are now due by August 30, 2010 (instead of June 29, 2010).
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 04/30/10 news, 10043030, for BP summary of the ANPR.)
NMFS Process Would Require Proof of Impact, Could Ban Fish Imports
In the ANPR, NMFS considers, among other things, developing a process for evaluating bycatch in foreign fisheries that supply fish and fish product imports to the U.S. to ensure that U.S. marine mammal and bycatch standards are met. Potential procedures could include:
- “Nation-supplied” proof of meeting standards -- requesting that nations whose fisheries supply imports to the U.S. provide reasonable proof of the impact of those fisheries on marine mammals. NMFS is considering defining ‘‘reasonable proof’’ as information that indicates that a nation’s import-supplying fisheries meet U.S. marine mammal bycatch standards.
- Consultations for non-proof -- initiating consultation with nations who fail to provide such reasonable proof or whose import-supplying commercial fisheries are known or likely to not meet U.S. marine mammal bycatch standards;
- Additional time to meet standards -- allowing some time for nations undergoing consultation to meet U.S. marine mammal bycatch standards by providing acceptable reasonable proof of the impact of their import-supplying fisheries on marine mammals, by improving their assessment capabilities in order to provide such proof, or by implementing effective bycatch mitigation measures; and
- Prohibition of fish imports from non-compliant sources -- recommending that the import of certain fish and fish products from a nation or fishery into the U.S. be prohibited if that nation or fishery fails to meet U.S. marine mammal bycatch standards after consultation.
NMFS Requests Comments on Standards, Bans, Intermediary Nations
NMFS is requesting comments on the procedures under consideration for ensuring that foreign fishery imports meet U.S. marine mammal bycatch standards. This includes comments on the possible standards to apply when evaluating import-supplying fisheries to make decisions regarding initiating consultation or banning imports and whether to apply different standards for making the decision to initiate consultation than are used to make the decision to ban imports.
Further, NMFS is requesting comments on what issues and conditions should be considered during consultation and whether and what kind of alternative procedures should be established for implementing import prohibitions on a shipment-by-shipment or shipper-by-shipper basis, or other basis if such imports were harvested by practices that do not result in marine mammal bycatch or were harvested by practices that are comparable to those of the U.S.
Finally, NMFS is requesting comments regarding if and how intermediary nations should be addressed by the procedures under consideration. Intermediary nations are those that serve as intermediaries in reexporting fish or fish products to the U.S. from the nation whose fisheries originally harvested the fish. (With respect to yellowfin tuna harvested in the eastern tropical Pacific purse seine fisheries, section 101(a)(2)(D) of the MMPA requires that any intermediary nation certify and provide reasonable proof that ‘‘it has not imported, within the preceding six months, any yellowfin tuna or yellowfin tuna products that are subject to a direct ban on importation to the U.S.’’ NMFS is considering using a similar approach to ensure that imports from intermediary nations meet U.S. marine mammal bycatch standards.)
1The MMPA of 1972 states that the Treasury Secretary shall ban the importation of 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. The MMPA also states that the Commerce Secretary shall 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.
(See April 2010 ANPR for comments received on the petition for rulemaking.)
NMFS contact -- Kristy Long (301) 713-2322
(FR Pub 07/01/10, D/N 09073012019-1203-01)