simp – Fishermens News

5Jun

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NOAA Fisheries: More Than Half of Seafood Import Entry Filings Noncompliant

A new NOAA Fisheries report to Congress on combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing finds that about 56% of audited import entry filings are noncompliant, mostly for incomplete chain of custody and misreporting of harvest weight. The volume and value of seafood species subject to the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) during fiscal year 2023 included over 1.7 billion pounds of seafood with a combined value of more than $6.4 billion in U.S. dollars. NOAA announced delivery of the report on May 31. The SIMP imports represented about 32% by volume and 30% by value of all seafood imports into the United States last year. The decrease in imports subject to SIMP reporting requirements is reflective of the overall decline in imports observed over the past fi...

Chefs Urge Greater Transparency, Traceability in Seafood Industry

31Jan

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Chefs Urge Greater Transparency, Traceability in Seafood Industry

Pressure from the marine environmental community for greater transparency and traceability in the seafood industry is increasing, with a letter to President Joe Biden urging the federal government to expand the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP). The current program, requiring catch documentation and traceability for some seafood species at risk of illegal fishing, applies to 13 species and species groups, covering less than half of all U.S. seafood imports. The letter, signed by more than 100 chefs nationwide, urges Biden to expand SIMP to include all species of seafood, requiring importers to report additional catch data, and to include labor conditions in reporting requirements. This program would prevent a “bait and switch” in seafood supply chains, they said, as wel...

22Nov

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NOAA Fisheries Seeks Further Review Re: Expanding Seafood Import Monitoring Program

NOAA Fisheries has withdrawn a proposed rule to expand the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), saying that instead, the agency will review the program to explore ways to enhance and strengthen its overall impact and effectiveness. The decision to withdraw the proposed rule stems from extensive feedback received during the public comment period, said Alexa Cole, director of NOAA Fisheries’ Office of International Affairs, Trade and Commerce, who announced the withdrawal on Nov. 14. “While we do not have a set timeline, NOAA Fisheries will prioritize this important work and aim to complete this review and implement any needed changes as soon as possible,” NOAA Fisheries spokesperson Lauren Gaches said. Meanwhile, SIMP continues operating in its current form, with the list ...

Congressmen Call for Action in Human Rights Abuses in Seafood Supply Chain

25Oct

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Congressmen Call for Action in Human Rights Abuses in Seafood Supply Chain

Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives are calling for federal action in response to investigative reports in The New Yorker magazine documenting human rights abuses in the seafood supply chain in the People’s Republic of China’s fishing fleet and seafood processing centers. Raul M. Grijalva, D-Ariz. and Jared Huffman, D- Calif., voiced their concerns Oct. 20 via letters to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Their letters referenced reports in The New Yorker that Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in the People’s Republic of China are being forced to work throughout the seafood supply chain. They urged Customs and Border Protection officials to use their au...

NOAA Urged to Expand Seafood Import Monitoring Program

29Mar

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NOAA Urged to Expand Seafood Import Monitoring Program

Three U.S. House of Representatives members are calling on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to expand and update the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), and are advocating as well for SIMP expansion to all species. Rep. Jared Huffman, ranking member of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries, Natural Resource Ranking Member Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Jimmy Panetta, also of California, led a letter to NOAA commenting on what they see as shortcomings of recent NOAA proposed rulemaking on SIMP. Other signers of the letter included representatives from California, Texas, North Carolina and Hawaii. The March 27 letter said that as the world’s largest seafood-importing country that the United States has the purchasing power and th...

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed Rule to Expand Seafood Import Monitoring

4Jan

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NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed Rule to Expand Seafood Import Monitoring

NOAA Fisheries has announced a proposed rule that would expand the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), a risk-based program for targeted species of seafood imported into the United States. SIMP currently includes reporting and recordkeeping requirements for nearly half of all seafood imported, in order to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and misrepresented seafood from entering US commerce. SIMP would provide a screening and deterrent tool for IUU fish and fish products and misrepresented seafood products seeking entry into domestic markets. The rule proposes to expand the species currently subject to SIMP, including red snapper and tuna, to include all species in the snapper family and additional tunas, to minimize the risk of mislabeling and product sub...