NMFS Issues Comparability Finding on New Zealand Fisheries, Lets CIT Case Proceed
The National Marine Fisheries Service made a new comparability finding that two New Zealand fisheries have comparable marine mammal bycatch protections to U.S. fisheries, and may be listed on the agency’s List of Foreign Fisheries eligible for import into the U.S., NMFS said in a notice released Jan. 22.
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The determination allows conservation groups Sea Shepherd New Zealand and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to continue with their lawsuit at the Court of International Trade contesting the agency's original 2020 findings that New Zealand's standards for its West Coast North Island inshore trawl and set net fisheries were comparable with U.S. regulations. After the 2020 findings lapsed, the trade court stayed the case until the agency issued a new comparability finding (see 2307140031).
NMFS found that New Zealand’s West Coast North Island multi-species set-net fishery and West Coast North Island multi-species trawl fishery both “prohibit the intentional killing of marine mammals in the course of commercial fishing operations and are comparable to U.S. standards.” Fisheries must be found comparable by the end of 2025 or else be banned under NMFS final rule issued in 2016 (see 2311160062)
In Sea Shepherd's suit on the comparability findings, a CIT judge granted a preliminary injunction banning the import of fish from the area after finding that practices in the fisheries are likely causing the near-extinction of the Maui dolphin (see 2211280053).