A coalition of US seafood businesses has filed a lawsuit against NOAA at the Court of International Trade, arguing that the agency’s sudden implementation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act threatens their operations and jobs along the East Coast

The suit challenges NOAA’s recent announcement that, beginning on 1 January, imports from fisheries deemed not equivalent in marine mammal protections will be banned from the US market.

The coalition emphasises it supports the MMPA’s goals but argues that NOAA failed to consider ‘reliance interests’, namely the economic impact on US companies dependent on imported seafood.