A coalition of US seafood businesses has filed a lawsuit against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at the Court of International Trade, arguing that the agency’s sudden implementation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) 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 final rule, published in 2016, gave NOAA ten years to assess global fisheries but stakeholders say they were left out of the process.
“After a decade of assessing fisheries, without stakeholder input, NOAA has given affected members of the seafood community only four months to come into compliance or face complete shutdown,” said Gavin Gibbons, chief strategy officer for the National Fisheries Institute.
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.
“What’s more, banning these products is very likely to do more harm than good,” said Gibbons. “It removes US leverage and may push exports toward countries with weak marine mammal protections.”
The plaintiffs, recognised for promoting sustainable seafood practices, claim the rushed timeline endangers jobs from Maryland to Florida. They are calling for a more practical, phased approach to MMPA enforcement that protects both marine life and economic livelihoods.
