NOAA asks how to simplify import rules Alaska waited a decade for

Import restrictions that Alaska harvesters waited ten years for took effect Jan. 1. On Tuesday, NOAA Fisheries asked the public how to make them simpler to administer.

The rules bar seafood from roughly 240 foreign fisheries in 46 nations that could not show marine mammal bycatch controls as effective as U.S. standards. The United States imports more than 90 percent of the seafood it eats, and Alaska boats and plants compete against those imports directly.

NOAA published the rule in August 2016, then pushed enforcement back twice, in 2020 and again in 2023, until after Dec. 31, 2025. The agency now calls the framework an important tool for pressuring foreign fleets to cut bycatch, and says running it at this scale is resource-intensive and operationally complex.

The Shrimp Alliance, which represents U.S. wild-caught shrimp producers, has argued the delays let noncompliant imports undercut domestic fishermen for nearly a decade. Conservation groups including Oceana have pushed for strong enforcement as leverage to force gear changes and closures abroad. At a House hearing last June, Rep. Nick Begich said Alaska's industry competes against countries that subsidize fleets and bypass environmental standards.

The notice changes nothing by itself. Altering the restrictions would take a full rulemaking. Comments run 60 days from Federal Register publication, scheduled for Wednesday.