The National Marine Fisheries Service is accepting public input through Sept. 28 to inform potential revisions to the regulations implementing the import provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Based on a decade of implementation experience, including the Jan. 1, 2026, import restrictions affecting approximately 240 fisheries in 46 countries, NMFS is exploring ways to streamline the program, reduce administrative complexity, and improve implementation while continuing to promote measures that reduce marine mammal bycatch.
The MMPA requires the U.S. to ban the importation of commercial fish or fish products caught with commercial fishing technology that results in the incidental kill or serious injury of marine mammals in excess of U.S. standards. It also requires NMFS to insist on reasonable proof from exporting nations of the effects of commercial fishing technology on marine mammals incidental to those fisheries.
NMFS regulations establish procedures for identifying foreign commercial fisheries that export fish and fish products to the U.S., evaluating whether those nations’ regulatory programs for each of those fisheries are comparable in effectiveness to the U.S. regulatory program, and implementing import prohibitions when fisheries do not receive a comparability finding. Prohibitions on imports become effective 30 days after publication of a Federal Register notice announcing the denial of the comparability finding and remain in effect until NMFS issues a comparability finding.
No fish or fish products caught or harvested in a fishery subject to an import prohibition may be imported into the U.S. from any intermediary nations (those processing and re-exporting products to the U.S.). However, product that is the same or similar to product harvested in a fishery subject to an import prohibition may be imported if it is accompanied by a certificate of admissibility or an electronic equivalent.
NMFS states that completing the first full round of comparability findings proved to be “significantly more complex and time-intensive” than it had anticipated. In addition, the COA process requires constant coordination among foreign officials, the fishing and seafood industries, the trade community, and U.S. agencies, creating delays at ports, a heavy administrative workload, and enforcement concerns.
NMFS is therefore initiating a comprehensive review of these regulations to increase the efficiency of the program while ensuring that the objectives of the statute are met. The agency lists more than a dozen related questions on which it is seeking input, including the following.
- What opportunities or challenges have the MMPA import provisions introduced to you as a harvesting nation, intermediary nation, seafood importer, or seafood consumer?
- Instead of imposing an immediate import prohibition on harvesting nations, should NMFS consider allowing conditional comparability findings based on a harvesting nation’s commitments to meeting U.S. standards?
- In what ways should NMFS structure and implement trade-related measures under the MMPA import provisions, including the timing and operationalization of trade measures to support fair, efficient, and enforceable implementation?
- Should potential economic impacts on the trade community, small entities, and harvesting nations inform NMFS’ comparability findings?
- How could the admissibility process, using the COA form or alternative means, be changed to more efficiently and effectively facilitate lawful entry of fish and fish products that are the same or similar to products that are subject to an import ban?
Copyright © 2026 Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A.; WorldTrade Interactive, Inc. All rights reserved.