Delivering on seafood traceability under the new U.S. import monitoring program

Abstract

The United States is the world's largest fish importer. Recent reports, however, indicate that 25-30% of wild-caught seafood imported into the US is illegally caught, heightening concerns over the country's significant role in driving Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. In January 2017, NOAA enacted the Seafood Import Monitoring Program in an effort to combat IUU fishing through mandating improved seafood traceability requirements. This program requires reporting of fisheries data from harvest to arrival at the US border. Given the role of the US as a major global importer of seafood, this regulation could be a transformative action on fisheries worldwide if implementation includes two key components-(1) applying best available and most appropriate technologies and (2) building monitoring and enforcement capacity among trading nations. This paper provides insightful commentary on the potential for this US policy to lead by example and improve an essential natural resource that over a billion people worldwide depend on for nutrition and livelihoods.

Over 90 endangered fish and invertebrates are caught in industrial fisheries

“…Compared to catch, it is more difficult to identify the countries driving threatened species imports because of the overall lower taxonomic resolution of global seafood trade records. For example, USA has very little industrial reported catch that is not recorded at species level, but almost half of its imported commodities are aggregated records because, like many wealthy nations, it imports seafood from countries with less stringent regulations or management capacity 37 . We likely underestimate the value of imports for wealthy countries and overestimate those of poorer countries because we use ex-vessel prices to compare the value of seafood imports.…”

Generic names and mislabeling conceal high species diversity in global fisheries markets

“…Developing countries, principal suppliers of snappers, often suffer from weak governance and insufficient financial and technical resources to achieve end‐to‐end traceability, opening doors for illicit conduct (Cawthorn & Mariani, ). Fostering strategic partnerships between supply‐chain actors, nongovernmental organizations, and foreign governments could assist in building infrastructure, expertise, and monitoring‐ and enforcement‐capacity in developing‐world fisheries, while preventing stricter regulations from becoming trade barriers and jeopardizing livelihoods in such nations (Willette & Cheng, ). Last, we recommend that all policies be complemented by appropriate public awareness campaigns on seafood sustainability, fraud, and potential substitutes, creating bottom‐up pressure for transparent labeling and a marketplace less susceptible to trickery through mislabeling.…”

Sistem Telusur Produk Perikanan Berdasarkan Lokasi Pendaratan Kapal Menggunakan QR Code

“…Di Indonesia, sepanjang bulan Januari hingga Maret 2017 terdokumentasi 23 insiden dan 893 orang yang mengalami keracunan makanan , dan tahun 2017 di Kabupaten Gunung Kidul Yogyakarta terdapat kasus keracunan makanan mencapai 79 orang tanpa ada kematian dengan penyebab keracunan berdasarkan attack rate makanan tertinggi dan berdasarkan hasil pemeriksaan laoratorium, keracunan disebabkan oleh bakteri E.Coli dan Salmonela [1]. Sejak tahun 2019 Amerika Serikat melalui badan pengawas makanan (FDA) mensyaratkan semua produk pangan yang diekspor ke Amerika Serikat harus melampirkan dokumen Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) yang berisikan data asal usul ikan, wilayah penangkapan, lokasi pendaratan, nama kapal nelayan, nama pemasok, data perusahaan pengolahan produk perikanan [2]. SIMP merupakan program untuk impor produk makanan laut tertentu, persyaratan pelaporan dan pencatatan yang diperlukan untuk mencegah penangkapan ikan ilegal, tidak dilaporkan dan tidak diatur (IUU, illegal, unreported uncontrolled) atau salah saji dari memasuki perdagangan Amerika Serikat untuk menjamin keamanan pangan global dan keberlanjutan sumber daya laut.…”

“…Melalui program seafood import monitoring program, diterapkan dalam upaya memerangi IUU fishing melalui mandat peningkatan persyaratan keterlacakan makanan laut, yang mensyaratkan pelaporan data perikanan dari panen hingga kedatangan di perbatasan Amerika Serikat. Penelitian ini memberikan komentar mendalam tentang potensi kebijakan Amerika Serikat untuk memimpin dengan memberi contoh dan meningkatkan sumber daya alam esensial yang lebih dari satu miliar orang di seluruh dunia bergantung pada nutrisi dan mata pencaharian, dan program ini berhasil apabila menerapkan teknologi terbaik yang tersedia dan paling tepat dan membangun kapasitas pemantauan dan penegakan hukum di antara negara-negara perdagangan [2]. Keterlacakan umumnya sebagai persyaratan teknis bagi bisnis untuk memenuhi peraturan pemerintah tentang keamanan pangan, penarikan kembali makanan, dan pelabelan produk dari negara asal [3].…”