The Department of Commerce has announced that, beginning Jan. 1, 2026, it will prohibit imports of fish and fish products from 240 fisheries from 46 nations that have been denied comparability findings under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The MMPA’s import provisions prohibit the import of fish or fish products from commercial fishing operations that result in the incidental mortality or serious injury of marine mammals (bycatch) in excess of U.S. standards. Fish and fish products from fisheries identified by the DOC in its list of foreign fisheries can only be imported into the U.S. if the harvesting nation has applied for and received a comparability finding.
The following nations have been denied comparability findings with respect to all of their fisheries: Benin, Grenada, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Namibia, New Caledonia, Russia, Saint Lucia, The Gambia, Togo, and Venezuela.
The following nations were denied comparability findings with respect to a subset of their fisheries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Indonesia, Ireland, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Taiwan, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.
The DOC notes that it has worked with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to develop lists of HTSUS numbers that flag products potentially sourced from fisheries denied a comparability finding. Products classified under these HTSUS numbers that are not imported from a prohibited fishery must be accompanied by a certificate of admissibility to attest to their method and location of harvest. When seeking to import such products the importer of record or agent must validate and submit a copy of the COA fish harvest record form through the Automated Commercial Environment.
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