| Abstract: |
Regulations that took effect this month require detailed tracking of some imported fish. The program is welcomed by conservation groups and American fishers, but it is not clear is how well it will work. For decades, United States seafood importers, and the producers who supply them with billions of pounds of fish and shellfish each year, have enjoyed a domestic marketplace with minimal guarantees for consumers about the origins of their seafood or how it was caught or farmed. That is now changing with a new set of regulations that went into effect January 1, which aims to reduce the amount of illegally produced or unmonitored seafood entering the U.S. market from overseas. Called the Seafood Import Monitoring Program, the rule now requires importers to provide border inspectors with detailed information on a seafood product’s identity and how and where it was caught or farmed – more or less the same regulations that domestic suppliers have been following for years. |
