The National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA) has announced that 42 countries will be barred from exporting certain seafood products to the United States. This decision stems from findings that fishers in these nations are catching marine mammals in ways that violate U.S. standards. The agency noted that these countries have failed to implement bycatch prevention measures comparable to those required of U.S. fishers under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. These import restrictions are scheduled to take effect in January 2026.
Several nations, including Mexico, China, Ecuador, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey, are encountering seafood export bans. In the case of Mexico, the Fisheries Service identified a failure to adequately monitor or restrict bycatch of marine mammals, an oversight that includes endangered species regulations that are strictly enforced in the United States. Countries such as Benin lost export privileges simply due to not submitting the necessary application to maintain their seafood trade with the U.S.
“This is a lifesaving victory for whales and dolphins swimming in the waters of Mexico, Vietnam, and other nations,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These conservation sanctions will mean fewer beloved marine mammals will get caught and killed in fishing gear. I only wish the U.S. government had gone further, since many other nations also need to do a better job avoiding bycatch.”
A 2023 report by conservation groups found that many other nations, including the United Kingdom, India, and South Africa, fail to meet U.S. bycatch standards and should face bans.
“If you want to sell your seafood in the U.S., it is only fair that you live up to the same strict marine mammal protections that other fishermen abide by. And if you can’t do that, you shouldn’t have a market here, or anywhere else for that matter,” said Zak Smith, a senior attorney at NRDC. “The promise of the Marine Mammal Protection Act is that seafood sold in the United States comes only from commercial fisheries that do not kill or seriously injure marine mammals. U.S. consumers and fishermen deserve nothing less and today’s action brings us closer to that promise.”
Since 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act has prohibited the United States from allowing foreign seafood to enter the country unless exporting nations meet the same standards applied to U.S. fishers for limiting marine mammal bycatch. However, the Fisheries Service ignored the directive for decades, until conservation groups — the Center for Biological Diversity, the Animal Welfare Institute, and NRDC —petitioned and eventually sued to compel action. This culminated in an agreement that set a deadline for today’s decision.
Bycatch is the greatest conservation threat to marine mammal populations worldwide. Each year, more than 650,000 whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals are unintentionally caught and killed in fishing gear around the globe. These animals, regarded as ‘bycatch’ of commercial fisheries, either drown or are tossed overboard to die from their injuries.
“It is high time that the United States implement this important provision of the law and penalize countries that harm so many marine mammals,” said Georgia Hancock, director and senior attorney of the Animal Welfare Institute’s Marine Wildlife Program. “Marine mammals contribute immense value on a global scale — ecological, economical, and cultural — and killing them by these cruel methods must have serious consequences.”
Some of the deadliest fishing gear includes gillnets, longlines, trawls, pots, and traps, according to the Fisheries Service. Unfortunately, numerous nations continue using these methods without monitoring the number of marine mammals killed each year.
The United States is the world’s largest seafood importer, bringing in more than $26.6 billion in seafood products in 2024 from over 140 nations. An estimated 80% of the seafood consumed in the United States is imported, including shrimp, tuna, and other fish species.
