View Rule

On December 9, 2016, NMFS issued a final rule that established a risk-based traceability program to track seafood from harvest to entry into U.S. commerce. The final rule included, for designated priority fish species, import permitting and reporting requirements to provide for traceability of seafood products offered for entry into the U.S. supply chain, and to ensure that these products were lawfully acquired and are properly represented. Shrimp and abalone products were included in the final rule to implement the Seafood Import Monitoring Program, but compliance with Seafood Import Monitoring Program requirements for those species was stayed indefinitely due to the disparity between Federal reporting programs for domestic aquaculture of shrimp and abalone products relative to the requirements that would apply to imports under Seafood Import Monitoring Program. In Section 539 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Congress mandated lifting the stay on inclusion of shrimp and abalone in Seafood Import Monitoring Program and authorized the Secretary of Commerce to require comparable reporting and recordkeeping requirements for domestic aquaculture of shrimp and abalone. This rulemaking would establish permitting, reporting and recordkeeping requirements for domestic producers of shrimp and abalone from the point of production to entry into commerce. It is not anticipated that this permitting, reporting and recordkeeping program will significantly reduce current levels of domestic aquaculture production in shrimp and abalone products.