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Last week, NFI and a coalition of Seafood Interest filed suit against NOAA over it’s implementation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (also known as the MMPA). We support the MMPA’s goals, but NOAA outright ignored industry expertise, excluded stakeholders, and failed to consider the incredibly dangerous and harmful real-world impact on U.S. businesses and workers.
Key takeaways:
- The coalition supports the MMPA’s conservation goals, but NOAA’s execution ignores stakeholder input and legal obligations under the Administrative Procedures Act
- This new rule will be incredibly painful for U.S. processing and distribution businesses reliant on imported raw materials that can’t be sourced domestically at scale
- Banning imports will only drive fisheries toward markets with weaker marine mammal protections and will actually undermine conservation efforts
