The Department of Commerce has withdrawn a proposed rule issued earlier this year that would have expanded and revised the Seafood Import Monitoring Program.
The SIMP is a risk-based traceability program meant to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and seafood fraud. It sets forth permitting, reporting, and recordkeeping procedures relating to the entry into U.S. commerce of certain fish and fish products identified as being at particular risk for these activities.
SIMP requirements have been in effect for the following 13 species and species groups since Dec. 31, 2018: abalone, Atlantic cod, Pacific cod, Atlantic blue crab, red king crab, dolphinfish, grouper, sea cucumber, northern red snapper, shark, shrimp, swordfish, and tuna (albacore, Atlantic bluefin, bigeye, Pacific bluefin, southern bluefin, skipjack, and yellowfin).
The DOC had proposed to expand the SIMP to (1) cover all species of snapper, (2) add slender, bullet, frigate, spotted tunny, black skipjack, blackfin, longtail, bonito, escolar, and hamachi/yellowtail/amberjack tuna as well as other species marked as tuna, and (3) newly add cuttlefish and squid, octopus, eels, queen conch, and Caribbean spiny lobster to the scope of the program. Other changes were proposed as well, including a requirement for the importer of record on the customs entry filing and the holder of the international fisheries trade permit to be the same entity.
However, the DOC now states that this proposal is being withdrawn in light of the “extensive public feedback” received indicating that the SIMP “may not fully meet [stakeholders’] expectations.” Instead, the DOC will work with industry, Congress, foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, and others to “conduct a broad program review to enhance and strengthen the program’s overall impact and effectiveness.” This review will include a series of listening sessions, the first of which will be held Nov. 17.
In the meantime, the DOC states, the SIMP will continue to operate in its current form and capacity, with the list of priority species subject to program requirements remaining unchanged and all program requirements remaining in effect.
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