NMFS Proposes Lifting Import Prohibitions on Bigeye Tuna from Georgia, Bolivia

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is seeking comments on a proposed rule to lift the trade restrictions on importing bigeye tuna from Bolivia and Georgia. The proposed rule would also make administrative changes to the section containing species-specific harmonized tariff codes in support of the International Trade Program. Comments are due July 25. In the rulemaking, NMFS would also consider administrative changes in support of the International Trade Permit (ITP) program to implement recent changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule.

Imports Banned in 2004 to Address Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated Catches

In 2002 and 2003, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas adopted binding measures for parties to prohibit the imports of Atlantic bigeye tuna and its products from Bolivia and Georgia,to address illegal, unreported, and unregulated catches by large-scale Bolivian and Georgian longline vessels. But in 2011 the Commission reversed its decision after examining recent actions of Bolivia and Georgia, and determined that the actions of their vessels no longer diminish the effectiveness of the Commission’s conservation and management measures.

NMFS Sees No Socioeconomic Impact on U.S. Entities

When the import prohibitions were implemented in a 2004 final rule, neither Bolivia nor Georgia had exported Atlantic bigeye tuna to the U.S. in the past 10 years, so NMFS determined that the import prohibitions would have no socioeconomic impact on fishery participants. Because there were no imports of Atlantic bigeye tuna from these countries prior to the implementation of the prohibitions, and because NMFS does not expect imports in the future, NMFS does not expect that lifting the prohibitions would result in socioeconomic impacts on U.S. entities. Thus NMFS considers lifting the Atlantic bigeye tuna import prohibitions in the rulemaking to be administrative in nature.