Legal Action Taken Against U.S. Federal Officials To Protect Marine Mammals From Being Killed As Bycatch

Conservation groups took legal action last week by filing a lawsuit against U.S. federal officials and departments for failing to enforce the import provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. These vital provisions are designed to safeguard marine mammals from being caught unintentionally in foreign fishing activities, by mandating that countries exporting seafood to the U.S. must adhere to the same strict standards as U.S. fisheries.

The lawsuit seeks a court order directing the government to fulfill its obligation under the Act, which includes banning seafood imports from nations whose fishing operations result in excessive harm to marine mammals.

“The U.S. government has violated the MMPA for far too long, causing significant harm to marine mammals worldwide,” said Kate O’Connell, senior policy consultant for the Animal Welfare Institute’s Marine Wildlife Program. “It is reprehensible that more than half a century after the MMPA was enacted, Americans are still buying seafood dinners with an invisible side of whale, dolphin, porpoise, or seal. Enough is enough.”

Roughly 70% to 85% of the seafood eaten in the U.S. is imported from more than 130 countries, including Canada, Indonesia, Ecuador, and Mexico. As the world’s largest seafood importer, the U.S. brings in over $21 billion worth of seafood annually, representing more than 15% of the global trade value of marine food products.

Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, including provisions to shield marine mammals from bycatch and to prohibit seafood imports from fisheries that don’t comply. However, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) did not implement a rule to enforce these provisions until 2016.

This import rule, as it is known, requires foreign fisheries to provide evidence that their bycatch prevention measures meet U.S. standards. The rule initially included a five-year exemption period to give countries sufficient time to assess marine mammal stocks, estimate bycatch, and develop rules to reduce bycatch. After that time, NMFS was supposed to determine whether countries’ fisheries were meeting U.S. standards and, if they were not, the U.S. government was supposed to ban imports from noncompliant fisheries.

In 2020, the agency extended implementation of the rule by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, it has delayed implementation twice more, and the ban on harmful fishery imports is now on hold until Jan. 1st, 2026.

“The Marine Mammal Protection Act sets a strong international standard for preventing bycatch, but the United States has been ignoring it and abandoning the iconic ocean animals it’s supposed to protect for more than half a century,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Whales and dolphins being caught in fishing nets around the world can’t afford any more delays. It’s long past time for the federal government to stop dragging its feet and start banning seafood imports from countries harming too many marine mammals.”

For decades, bycatch has posed the single greatest threat to marine animals worldwide. Each year, more than 650,000 dolphins, whales, seals, and other marine mammals die or are seriously injured in fishing gear.

The unintended capture of non-target species disrupts the natural balance of marine ecosystems. Removing key species from the ocean can lead to imbalances, such as overpopulation of prey species or loss of predators, with cascading effects throughout the food chain.

Bycatch also represents a massive waste of resources. Much of the marine life caught accidentally is discarded, often dead or dying, leading to unnecessary loss of life and wasted potential economic resources.

The lawsuit was filed by the Animal Welfare Institute, Center for Biological Diversity, and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) against the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (and their respective leaders).

The conservation groups are represented by Anderson & Kreiger LLP and by in-house attorneys at the Center for Biological Diversity and NRDC.