FishWise Launches SIMP Project

FishWise, with the support of the Walton Family Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), is soliciting feedback on the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) from businesses that sell or import their products into the U.S.

The goals of collecting this feedback are to:

• Identify what is working well with SIMP
• Identify where there may be challenges in collecting or inputting the data required by SIMP
• Recommend ways to ultimately make SIMP more effective at combatting IUU fishing and seafood fraud

FishWise successfully ‘launched’ the project at the 2019 Boston Seafood Expo North America, engaging with over 20 companies and and will continue to do so at future seafood conferences and events throughout the year. Although this is an independent project and not being conducted on behalf of NOAA, FishWise aims to present an overview of survey and interview feedback to NOAA but cannot guarantee they will act on the findings.

About SIMP: this program establishes reporting and record keeping requirements for U.S. imports of certain seafood products to prevent illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) and/or misrepresented seafood from entering U.S. commerce. It requires the importer of record to provide and report key data to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the government agency charged with administering and overseeing the program.

To obtain more information about the project and learn how to participate, please email SIMPfeedback@fishwise.org.

Photo credit: NOAA