Welcome to the Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection

1/18/2017: NOAA Fisheries has released its final rule to enhance the U.S. regulations that implement conservation measures adopted by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The rule revises the terminology for the Dissostichus Catch Documentation Scheme and reduces the time for advance notice of imports of Dissostichus species from 15 to 10 working days. View Final Rule. 

1/09/2017: NOAA Fisheries has filed a Federal Register Notice seeking information on foreign commercial fishing operations that export fish and fish products to the United States and the level of incidental and intentional mortality and serious injury of marine mammals in those fisheries. Read more. 

12/08/2016: NOAA Fisheries has released its Final Rule to Implement a U.S. Seafood Import Monitoring Program to prevent IUU-caught and/or misrepresented seafood from entering the U.S. market. Learn more. 

12/08/2016: NOAA Fisheries and nine West African countries met to discuss strengthening shark and ray conservation in the region.The workshop, co-hosted by the Governments of Senegal and Togo  was aimed at facilitating the implementation of the shark and ray listings in Appendix II of the CITES. Learn more. 

10/28/16: The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has approved the establishment of the world’s largest marine protected area in Antarctica’s Ross Sea, protecting a unique biodiversity and creating a natural reference area for the scientific study of the impacts of climate change and fishing. Learn more.

10/03/16: Conservation actions for chambered nautiluses, devil rays and sharks were agreed today among member nations or “parties” to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Johannesburg, South Africa.

09/01/16: NOAA Fisheries announces positive certification decision for Mexico's addressing of its North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles under the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act.

09/01/16: 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress approves motion to take actions to avert extinction of the Vaquita Porpoise. View motion here. 

08/11/16: NOAA Fisheries has issued a final rule establishing conditions and procedures for nations exporting fish and fish products to the U.S. to demonstrate they have a regulatory program for reducing marine mammal bycatch that is comparable in effectiveness to U.S. standards. Read more. 

08/02/16: NOAA Fisheries has issued a final rule establishing regulations to integrate the collection of trade documentation within the International Trade Data System, or ITDS, and requiring electronic reporting of imports and exports through a single automated portal maintained by Customs and Border Protection. Read more. 

07/20/16: NOAA Fisheries is accepting comments on a proposed rule to enhance and increase efficiency of the regulations that implement  the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources' (CCAMLR) conservation measures by reorganizing its technical structure, streamlining and clarifying the rules, and updating provisions to reflect recent amendments to CCAMLR conservation measures. Comments will be accepted until August 22, 2016.  View proposed rule here.

07/20/16: NOAA Fisheries has released the 2016 version of International Agreements, a publication featuring international agreements concerning living marine resources of interest to NOAA Fisheries. View here.

06/08/16: The Port State Measures Agreement entered into international force on June 5, 2016, marking a major milestone in the effort to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing as called for by the Presidential Task Force. In this article, NOAA Fisheries examines the Agreement, its anticipated impacts, and steps for implementation.
 

05/18/2016: Twenty-nine countries and the European Union have become party to the 2009 Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing. With 30 parties now on board, the agreement will officially enter into force on on June 5, 2016.  

05/02/16: United States to submit proposal to list Nautilus species in Appendix II of CITES, amid report finding that trade may be a threat to conservation of the species.

04/29/16: National Ocean Council Committee on IUU Fishing and Seafood Fraud's Recommendation 2 Working Group issues summary update on best practices in monitoring, control and surveillance measures to address IUU fishing at Regional Fishery Management Organizations.

04/28/16:  NOAA Fisheries announces opening of public comment period on a Commerce Trusted Trader Program - a component of the proposed US seafood traceability program.  

04/27/16: New study by TRAFFIC and World Wildlife Fund finds that trade may be a threat to the conservation of the chambered nautilus. The report calls on source and destination countries to take actions to reform harvest and trade controls to prevent the over exploitation and illegal harvest sale of nautilus. Learn more.  

04/22/16: FishAdapt - a global conference on Climate Change Adaptation for Fisheries and Aquaculture, cosponsored by NOAA Fisheries' Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection, is requesting session proposal submissions for its 2016 conference (August 8-10, Thailand). Learn more. 

03/22/16: NOAA Fisheries has published an interim final rule to implement regulations under the Dolphin Protection Consumer Information Act to enhance the requirements for documentation and captain training to support labels on tuna products that represent the product as “dolphin safe."  Learn more.

03/01/16: NOAA's Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Fisheries, Russell Smith, gives testimony at US House Subcommittee on Water, Power and Ocean's Legislative Hearing on H.R. 4576, "Ensuring Access to Pacific Fisheries Act."

02/04/16: NOAA Fisheries announces the proposed rule for the first phase of a U.S. seafood traceability program to combat IUU fish and fish products and seafood fraud from entering the U.S. seafood supply chain. 

01/20/16: Five Things Importers and Exporters of Fisheries Products Need to Know About CBP and  NMFS Filing Process Changes in 2016.