Shrimp and abalone on menu to monitor imports

The National Marine Fisheries Service on Tuesday announced it will require compliance with reporting and recordkeeping rules of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program beginning Dec. 31.    The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is lifting its suspension on the inclusion of shrimp and abalone in the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) as the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 requires the action.
   The lifting of the suspension will take effect May 24, and compliance with reporting and recordkeeping requirements will be required starting Dec. 31.
   Reporting and recordkeeping requirements will be applicable to imports of shrimp and abalone species originating from both wild capture fisheries and aquaculture operations.
   Although NMFS issued a final rule Dec. 9, 2016, to establish SIMP, implementation of the program for those species was postponed indefinitely because of NMFS’ determination that current data collection for shrimp and abalone aquacultured in the United States wasn’t equivalent to the data that would have been required for reporting for imports of those products, NMFS said in a final rule released Tuesday.
   Starting Dec. 31, importers of shrimp and abalone will be required to obtain an International Fisheries Trade Permit, submit harvest and landing information on those species into the International Trade Data System prior to entry and maintain supply chain records from the point of harvest to the point of entry into U.S. commerce for a period of two years after the entry, NMFS said.
   “International fishery trade permits are currently available for issuance, and it is anticipated that ACE reporting will be available for testing prior to the compliance date,” NMFS said. “Prior to December 31, 2018, NMFS will publish a notice in the Federal Register to inform interested parties that ACE programming has been completed to allow U.S. importers to test software for ACE entry reporting for shrimp and abalone.”
   For products harvested before the compliance date, U.S. importers should work with foreign suppliers to ensure harvest event and supply chain records are available for entries made on or after Dec. 31, NMFS said.
   SIMP consists of reporting of harvest events at the time of entry and permitting and recordkeeping requirements for harvest events and chain of custody information.
   “Application of the program’s reporting and recordkeeping requirements to shrimp and abalone will enable audits of imports to be conducted to determine the origin of the products and confirm that they were lawfully acquired,” the final rule says.
   SIMP is the first phase of a risk-based traceability program, which establishes permit, reporting and recordkeeping requirements to prevent illegally harvested and misrepresented seafood from entering U.S. commerce.
   Thirteen species identified as having the highest risk for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and misrepresentation are the only species currently subject to the program.
   NMFS listed 42 Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes for which the mandatory compliance requirements will take effect Dec. 31.
   Highly processed fish products, such as fish oil, slurry, sauces, sticks, balls, cakes and puddings, for which the species of fish comprising the product or harvesting events or aquaculture operations of the product can’t be “feasibly identified” won’t be subject to the final rule, NMFS said.