NMFS Approves New Zealand Fisheries for Seafood Imports, Though CIT Case Looms

The National Marine Fisheries Service made a new comparability finding that two New Zealand fisheries have comparable marine mammal bycatch protections to U.S. fisheries, and may be listed on the agency’s List of Foreign Fisheries eligible for import into the U.S., NMFS said in a notice released Jan. 22.

NMFS found that New Zealand’s West Coast North Island multi-species set-net fishery and West Coast North Island multi-species trawl fishery both “prohibit the intentional killing of marine mammals in the course of commercial fishing operations and are comparable to U.S. standards.” NMFS had made the same finding in 2020, but that comparability finding expired in 2023. Fisheries must be found comparable by the end of 2025 or else be banned under NMFS final rule issued in 2016 (see 2311160062).

The NMFS comparability finding comes amid litigation at the Court of International Trade that resulted in a temporary ban on some New Zealand seafood imports after a CIT judge found practices in the fisheries are likely causing the near-extinction of the Maui dolphin (see 2211280053). The CIT case had been on hold pending the NMFS comparability determination.