Taking and Importing of Marine Mammals

Issuing agencies

Abstract

This provides notice that on June 5, 2023, the NMFS Assistant Administrator (Assistant Administrator) completed an affirmative finding annual renewal for the Governments of Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Spain (referred to hereafter as "The Nations") under the portions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) related to the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (ETP) tuna purse seine fishery and the importation of yellowfin tuna from nations participating in this fishery. These affirmative findings allowed for the importation into the United States of yellowfin tuna and yellowfin tuna products harvested in the ETP from April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024, in compliance with the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP), by purse seine vessels operating under The Nations' jurisdiction or exported from The Nations. NMFS based the affirmative finding annual renewals on reviews of documentary evidence submitted by the Governments of The Nations and of information obtained from the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC). NMFS typically publishes notice of affirmative finding annual renewals shortly after the Assistant Administrator makes those findings; however, due to an oversight, this notice was not published in 2023, and is therefore being published now to provide the public with notice of the findings.