The Commerce Department issued a final rule intended to crack down on illegal fishing and fraudulent sales of seafood imports. The result of years of work, the rule will require a paper trail from the fishing boat to the U.S. border for cargo deemed at risk of mislabeling or illegal fishing, said the Wall Street Journal.
The United States imports 90 percent of its seafood, said the Journal, and the rules are intended to even the playing field for domestic companies, who have to follow stricter rules than fishing boats in some other countries.
Environmental group Oceana said the traceability rule is a ground-breaking step toward transparency in the supply chain and it should be expanded to cover all seafood sold in the United States and the entire supply chain for seafood. “Without full-chain traceability for all seafood, consumers will continue to be cheated, hardworking, honest fishermen will continue to be undercut, and the long-term productivity of our oceans will continue to be in jeopardy,” said Beth Lowell of Oceana.
To read the final rule on seafood monitoring, click here.