The United States is a global leader in marine mammal conservation and sustainable fisheries, with U.S. fishermen abiding by some of the world’s most robust conservation practices, including measures to reduce marine mammal bycatch—a global threat to many populations of marine mammals.
The import provisions implement aspects of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) that aim to reduce marine mammal bycatch associated with international commercial fishing operations, by requiring nations exporting fish and fish products to the United States to be held to the same standards as U.S. commercial fishing operations. The import provisions also establish the criteria for evaluating a harvesting nation’s regulatory program for reducing marine mammal bycatch and the procedures required to receive authorization to import fish and fish products into the United States.
Background
The MMPA at 16 U.S.C. § 1371 (a)(2) requires the United States to ban the importation of commercial fish or fish products that have been caught with commercial fishing technology that results in the incidental kill or serious injury of marine mammals in excess of U.S. standards. In response to a Petition to Ban imports of Swordfish and swordfish products under 16 U.S.C. § 1371 (a)(2) of the MMPA, NOAA Fisheries published a final rule in August 2016 (81 FR 54390), implementing the “import provisions” of the MMPA.
Under the import provisions, harvesting nations must apply for and receive a comparability finding to import fish and fish products from their commercial fisheries into the United States by January 1, 2026. A comparability finding means the harvesting nations’ Export and/or Exempt fisheries meet the applicable conditions specified in the import provisions. To receive a comparability finding, harvesting nations must demonstrate they have a regulatory program governing the incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammals in the course of commercial fishing operations that is comparable in effectiveness to the U.S. regulatory program. Nations must also comply with requirements concerning the intentional mortality and serious injury of marine mammals in the course of commercial fishing operations. Comparability findings are granted for a four-year period or other such period as specified by NOAA Fisheries, after which the harvesting nation will need to re-apply to renew their comparability findings. NOAA will publish the fisheries granted and denied comparability findings in the U.S. Federal Register for each comparability finding cycle. Nations denied comparability findings can reapply at any time.
Harvesting nations are required to submit a progress report every two years after comparability findings are announced in the Federal Register. A comparability finding can be reconsidered and terminated at any time if NOAA Fisheries determines that the basis for the comparability finding no longer applies.
List of Foreign Fisheries
The import provisions require NOAA Fisheries to classify foreign nations’ commercial fisheries as either “Exempt” or “Export” based on the frequency and likelihood of incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammals in fishing gear. This list of Exempt and Export fisheries is known as NOAA Fisheries' List of Foreign Fisheries (LOFF). Fish and fish products from fisheries identified on the LOFF may only be imported into the United States if the harvesting nation has applied for, and NOAA Fisheries has issued, a comparability finding. Comparability findings are fishery-specific and, therefore, are made on a fishery by fishery basis.
Exemption Period
To ensure effective implementation, the import provisions established an initial five-year exemption period to allow harvesting nations time to develop their regulatory programs governing incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammals during commercial fishing. The exemption period has been extended three times and ends on December 31, 2025. Any nation wishing to export fish or fish products to the United States will be required to have received a comparability finding for each of its fisheries on the LOFF by December 31, 2025.
During the exemption period, NOAA Fisheries responded to actions regarding endangered Vaquita and Māui dolphins to ban certain fish and fish products from Mexican and New Zealand fisheries, respectively. For additional information, see here.
2025 Comparability Finding Determinations for Harvesting Nations
NOAA Fisheries announced its 2025 comparability finding determinations in August 2025. These determinations cover 135 nations (approximately 2,500 fisheries) seeking to export fish and fish products to the United States. Nations whose fisheries were denied comparability findings will be prohibited from importing fish and fish products from those fisheries into the United States beginning on January 1, 2026. More information on seafood import restrictions under this program is available here. Here’s more information on the 2025 comparability finding determinations.
