Alaska seafood groups call EU catch-tracking system a trade barrier

Nearly 16,000 metric tons of legally caught Alaska fish sat in Dutch ports in May because of European paperwork. The European Union has been Alaska's largest direct trading partner by value since 2022, taking an average of $617 million worth of seafood a year.

Dutch authorities restricted about 7,810 tons aboard one vessel and held 7,780 aboard another, refusing entry ahead of a scheduled May 23 docking. Twelve U.S. companies had product on the two ships, and the Alaska logistics company running them lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. In Denmark, about 600 tons in 32 containers have been held since late April over conflicting guidance. Authorities released 125 tons by Sept. 1; 475 are still in bonded cold storage.

The rule is called CATCH, and it became mandatory in January. It requires electronic catch certificates filed at least three working days before a shipment arrives, tracing each harvest vessel's contribution to each finished product.

That last part is the problem. Alaska's salmon fishery is 7,500 small boats delivering 250,000 metric tons over three months, often consolidated on tenders that take deliveries from more than 100 vessels in a single offload. Pollock lands three billion pounds a year, split into fillets, successive grades of surimi, meal and oil. One representative shipment the industry analyzed would have required roughly 3,000 individual product records.

Three Alaska seafood organizations published a paper Thursday calling the system a non-tariff trade barrier, a rule that restricts imports without a tax. They say they support the EU's goal of stopping illegal fishing, and want the bloc to let exporters report by processing facility rather than by vessel, standardize data formats, and extend the timeline. "The objective should be better detection of illegal seafood, not simply more paperwork for legal seafood," said Matt Tinning of the At-sea Processors Association.

The European Commission says the system requires flag states to certify that imported fish did not come from illegal fishing, and that digital traceability strengthens control over the supply chain.

U.S. exporters have since won permission to keep using the U.S. Legal Harvest Certificate through the end of November. The U.S. Trade Representative is taking comment for next year's trade barrier report through Oct. 29, and NOAA Fisheries holds a trade and market access session in Seattle on Oct. 21 with EU export requirements on the agenda.