Two years after U.S. officials established new regulations regarding imported seafood and bycatch, NOAA Fisheries is taking steps to make sure other countries are working on reducing the interaction their fisheries have with marine mammals.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act Import Provisons Rule, announced in August 2016, requires seafood importers to maintain the same bycatch standards as American fisheries. The rule took effect on 1 January 2017 but gave countries a five-year period to evaluate their marine mammal stocks and reduce their bycatch to match U.S. standards…