U.S. enforcement raised on Chilean sea bass shipments

U.S. enforcement raised on Chilean sea bass shipments    The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has stepped up its enforcement against improperly handled imports of patagonian toothfish, better known as Chilean sea bass.
   A large shipment of Chilean sea bass was recently seized by U.S. authorities because of unauthorized signatures on the catch’s certification, a violation of international rules.
   “NOAA Fisheries will deny entry of toothfish shipments into the United States if they were not harvested and documented in a manner consistent with international conservation measures,” warned Bill Hogarth, director of NOAA Fisheries, in a Sept. 28 statement.
   Measure 10-05 states that only the port official of the exporting country may authorize the re-export of Chilean sea bass. Shipments certified and signed by anyone other than the official of the ports of export and re-export are unauthorized and will be turned away by the United States.
   Hogarth said the agency’s action to close trade loopholes signals “a strong commitment to keep poached fish off the American seafood market.”
   He explained that significant delays in approving shipments for entry in the United States have resulted from the non-compliance with two major provisions of the international patagonian toothfish management program concerning import tracking and vessel monitoring through appropriate electronic vessel-monitoring systems.
   Recently some vessels applying for Chilean sea bass import pre-approval have been unable to produce the required documentation that these monitoring systems were installed and tracked every four hours by the flag state of the vessel.
   “Frequent and consistent polling of vessel monitoring systems is critical to curtailing illegal fishing, and so we will not allow shipments into the country if this rule is not followed,” Hogarth said.