USA: Marine Mammal Protection Act assessment update

Under the United States’ Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), the USA prohibits imports of commercial fish or fish products caught in commercial fishing operations resulting in the incidental killing or serious injury (bycatch) of marine mammals in excess of United States standards. All fisheries exporting to the US market must be assessed to meet this requirement.

To comply with the rule, the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) submitted applications on behalf of Australian industry. DAFF has now been notified that US authorities require additional time to complete their assessments. Exporting countries now have until 31 December 2023 to receive a comparability finding. The previous reporting deadline was 30 November 2022.

No further action is required by Australian government or industry at this stage. More detailed information about the MMPA can be found here.                                                                                                                                            

USA: Food Safety Modernization Act Rule 204

The United States Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Rule 204(d), which concerns traceability data requirements along the food supply chain, will be finalised in November. There may be implications for Australian exporters supplying seafood to the US market in future. Learn more about FSMA Rule 204 here.

The Global Seafood Alliance (GSA) has argued that the Rule could be ‘burdensome’ for the global industry to implement:  ‘for seafood imports, the proposed rule further defines traceability requirements, creates additional requirements for all producers to collect traceability data, and mandates a 24-hour turnaround to provide data to the FDA’  Read the GSA analysis here.                                                                                                                                       

DAFF export guides

DAFF has published a series of export guides to help businesses understand the steps for exporting agrifood products - including seafood - out of Australia. Read the guides here.                                                                                                                                               

China International Import Exhibition: Australian seafood 

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, overseas participation in the China International Import Exhibition in Shanghai from 5-11 November will be limited.

However, Australian seafood will still be represented. Austrade is promoting WA seafood brands on Wechat. If you don’t have the Austrade mini-app on the Wechat platform, you can still read the exporter business profiles here (Chinese).                                                                                                                                           

DAFF contact update

From 10 October 2022, the DAFF individual staff email addresses have changed from @awe.gov.au or @agriculture.gov.au to @aff.gov.au. Any emails sent to the previous @awe.gov.au addresses will be automatically forwarded to the correct address.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

The STAG is funded by partners:

www.seafoodtradeadvisory.com

The Seafood Trade Advisory Group (STAG) is jointly funded by the Australian government and the fishing industry. We receive funds from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC).which is a statutory authority within the portfolio of the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Water and the Environment. 

 Any information provided in this STAG publication is general in nature. Before acting on any information provided, you should consider its appropriateness to your individual circumstances and business objectives.