Notice2026-04747
Implementation of Fish and Fish Product Import Provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act-Notification of Comparability Findings
Primary source
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Published
March 11, 2026
Effective
March 11, 2026
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
Under the authority of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), the NMFS Assistant Administrator for Fisheries (Assistant Administrator) announces comparability finding determinations for the Government of New Zealand's (GNZ) North Island and South Island multi- species set net fisheries and North Island and South Island multi- species trawl fisheries. NMFS bases the comparability findings on documentary evidence submitted by the GNZ and other relevant, readily available information.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 47 (Wednesday, March 11, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 11, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11962-11963]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-04747]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XF590]
Implementation of Fish and Fish Product Import Provisions of the
Marine Mammal Protection Act--Notification of Comparability Findings
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of comparability findings.
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SUMMARY: Under the authority of the Marine Mammal Protection Act
(MMPA), the NMFS Assistant Administrator for Fisheries (Assistant
Administrator) announces comparability finding determinations for the
Government of New Zealand's (GNZ) North Island and South Island multi-
species set net fisheries and North Island and South Island multi-
species trawl fisheries. NMFS bases the comparability findings on
documentary evidence submitted by the GNZ and other relevant, readily
available information.
DATES: These comparability findings are valid and in effect from March
11, 2026 through December 31, 2029, or for such other period as NMFS
may specify.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mi Ae Kim, Office of International
Affairs, Trade, and Commerce, NMFS, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4a27273a2b6426252c2c0a24252b2b642d253c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="117c7c61703f7d7e7777517f7e70703f767e67">[email protected]</span></a>, or by phone at
(301) 427-8365.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The MMPA requires the United States to ban the importation of
commercial fish or fish products that have been caught with commercial
fishing technology which results in the incidental kill or incidental
serious injury of ocean mammals in excess of U.S. standards (16 U.S.C.
1371(a)(2)). For the purposes of applying this import ban, the
Secretary of Commerce shall insist on reasonable proof from the
government of any nation from which fish or fish products will be
exported to the United States of the effects on ocean mammals of the
commercial fishing technology in use for such fish or fish products
exported from such nation to the United States (16 U.S.C.
1371(a)(2)(A)).
In August 2016, NMFS published a final rule (81 FR 54390; August
15, 2016) (Final Rule) implementing the fish and fish product import
provisions in section 1371(a)(2) of the MMPA. The Final Rule
established a process to evaluate a harvesting nation's regulatory
program concerning the incidental and intentional mortality and serious
injury of marine mammals in fisheries operated by nations that export
fish and fish products to the United States. Under the Final Rule, a
valid comparability finding for a fishery must be in effect for the
importation of fish and fish products into the United States.
The GNZ submitted its comparability finding application to NMFS,
including information pertaining to the North Island and South Island
multi-species set net and trawl fisheries. NMFS issued comparability
findings for a select number of New Zealand's fisheries (i.e., West
Coast North Island multi-species set net and trawl fisheries) in
November 2020. See 85 FR 71297 (November 9, 2020). Following the
publication of the findings, two environmental organizations filed a
lawsuit against NMFS claiming that its comparability findings violated
the MMPA and Administrative Procedure Act (APA). See Sea Shepherd New
Zealand and Sea Shepherd Conservation v. United States, et al., Case
No. 20-00112. A brief history of the litigation can be found at 89 FR
4595 (January 24, 2024). In response to the litigation, the GNZ
submitted supplemental documentary evidence regarding its regulatory
program pertaining to the West Coast North Island multi-species set net
and trawl fisheries. NMFS reconsidered its earlier comparability
findings issued on November 9, 2020, based on the supplemental
information provided and issued new comparability findings for these
fisheries on January 24, 2024. See 89 FR 4595 (January 24, 2024).
A new lawsuit was initiated by a different environmental
organization on December 4, 2024, challenging NMFS' January 24, 2024
comparability findings. See Maui and Hector's Dolphin Defenders NZ Inc.
v. National Marine Fisheries Service, et al., Case No. 1:24-cv-00218
(CIT) (MHDD v. NMFS I). Plaintiff asserted that NMFS' comparability
findings and its failure to ban imports from New Zealand's West Coast
North Island multi-species set net and trawl fisheries (specifically
from Fishery IDs 1969 and 1977) violated the MMPA and APA. On August
26, 2025, the U.S. Court of International Trade
[[Page 11963]]
ruled in favor of the plaintiff concluding that NMFS' 2024 decision was
arbitrary and capricious because the agency's rationale was
inconsistent with the MMPA and it failed to adequately explain its
rationale and support its determinations with documentary evidence. The
court vacated and remanded the 2024 Decision Memorandum supporting the
comparability findings with instructions to NMFS to issue remand
comparability findings for New Zealand's West Coast North Island multi-
species set net and trawl fisheries no later than January 6, 2026. NMFS
filed its remand comparability findings with the court on January 6,
2026.
In an unrelated action, on September 2, 2025, NMFS published a
Notice in the Federal Register announcing NMFS' final comparability
findings for the entire group of harvesting nations (135 nations
covering approximately 2,500 fisheries) seeking to export fish and fish
products to the United States under section 1371(a)(2) of the MMPA. See
90 FR 42395 (Sept. 2, 2025). The issuance of final comparability
findings for all harvesting nations was required because the
regulations obligated NMFS to determine whether to issue comparability
findings for Export and Exempt fisheries no later than November 30,
2025 (the year when the exemption period was set to expire) and because
a court order in Natural Resources Defense Council, et al. v. National
Marine Fisheries Service, et al., 1:24-cv-00148 (CIT) directed that
NMFS issue comparability findings for all harvesting nations and submit
those findings to the Federal Register on or before September 1, 2025.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Final Rule and the court's order,
NMFS issued new comparability findings for all of New Zealand's
commercial fisheries, which were published in the Federal Register on
September 2, 2025.
M[amacr]ui and Hector's Dolphin Defenders NZ Inc. filed another
lawsuit on January 5, 2026, alleging that NMFS' September 2, 2025,
comparability findings for New Zealand's fisheries involving commercial
set net and trawl gear violated the MMPA and APA. See Maui and Hector's
Dolphin Defenders NZ Inc. v. National Marine Fisheries Service, et al.,
Case No. 1:26-00060 (CIT) (MHDD v. NMFS II). MHDD v. NMFS II challenged
NMFS' findings for the following 15 North Island and South Island set
net and trawl fisheries--Fishery IDs 1883, 1968, 1969, 1977, 1978,
2041, 2046, 2047, 2051, 2052, 2053, 2054, 2064, 2067, and 2077. The
primary difference between MHDD v. NMFS I and MHDD v. NMFS II relates
to scope, namely that in MHDD v. NMFS II the Plaintiffs claimed that
NMFS did not adequately address the effects of the South Island set net
and trawl fisheries on Hector's dolphins and other potentially affected
marine mammals.
NMFS' Comparability Findings for New Zealand's North Island and South
Island Multi-Species Set Net and Trawl Fisheries
NMFS has conducted a discretionary review pursuant to 50 CFR
216.24(h)(8)(vii) of the findings it made on September 2, 2025,
pertaining to New Zealand's North Island and South Island multi-species
set net and trawl fisheries solely to consider whether the information
obtained by NMFS during the remand period in MHDD v. NMFS I, and other
readily available information from public sources and the GNZ,
continued to support comparability findings for the additional 13
fisheries that were not included in the remand. Having concluded that
this additional information does not support altering the previous
results, NMFS issues the following comparability findings.
A comparability finding means that each of the harvesting nation's
Export and/or Exempt fisheries covered by the finding meet the
applicable conditions specified in the Final Rule and becomes valid
upon publication in the Federal Register. See 50 CFR 216.24(h)(8)(i)
and (iv). NMFS has evaluated the documentary evidence provided by the
GNZ and other relevant, readily available information, addressed the
concerns identified in the court's August 26, 2025, Opinion and Order,
and the applicable regulatory conditions at 50 CFR 216.24(h)(6) and
(h)(7), and has determined that the GNZ's regulatory program for its
North Island and South Island multi-species set net and trawl fisheries
is comparable in effectiveness to the United States' regulatory program
under the MMPA. The comparability findings announced in this Notice
incorporate the remand comparability findings for Fishery IDs 1969 and
1977 that were filed with the court on January 6, 2026, and new
comparability findings for New Zealand's North Island and South Island
multi-species set net and trawl fisheries that are the subject of MHDD
v. NMFS II (Fishery IDs: 1883, 1968, 1969, 1977, 1978, 2041, 2046,
2047, 2051, 2052, 2053, 2054, 2064, 2067, and 2077) and the new
findings supersede NMFS' previously published comparability findings
for the same fisheries (i.e., Fishery IDs: 1883, 1968, 1969, 1977,
1978, 2041, 2046, 2047, 2051, 2052, 2053, 2054, 2064, 2067, and 2077)
referenced in NMFS's Notice of Comparability Findings and
Implementation and Continuation of Trade Restrictions for Certain Fish
and Fish Products dated September 2, 2025. See 90 FR 42395 (Sept. 2,
2025). All of the other comparability findings for New Zealand's Export
and/or Exempt fisheries (i.e., purse seine (ID 1881), trolling lines
(ID 1971), surface longline (ID 1972 and 1975), bottom trawl (ID 2074,
2083, 2084, 2085, 2093, 2099), bottom trawl/midwater trawl (ID 10581),
bottom longline (ID 1882, 2075, and 2095), fish pots/fish traps (ID
2043 and 12480), pots/traps (ID 2050), lobster traps (ID 2089), and
aquaculture (ID 2090)) identified in the September 2, 2025, Federal
Register Notice and accompanying report for these New Zealand fisheries
are unaffected by this Notice and remain valid.
As a result of these findings, NMFS announces the issuance of
comparability findings that will allow the continued importation into
the United States of fish and fish products harvested by New Zealand's
set net and trawl fisheries (Fishery IDs: 1883, 1968, 1969, 1977, 1978,
2041, 2046, 2047, 2051, 2052, 2053, 2054, 2064, 2067, and 2077)
operating off the North Island and South Island. A more detailed
analysis of NMFS' comparability findings for the GNZ's North Island and
South Island multi-species set net and trawl fisheries (Fishery IDs:
1883, 1968, 1969, 1977, 1978, 2041, 2046, 2047, 2051, 2052, 2053, 2054,
2064, 2067, and 2077) is contained in NMFS's Decision Memorandum dated
March 2, 2026, and can be found at:<a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/international-affairs/2025-marine-mammal-protection-act-comparability-finding-determinations">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/international-affairs/2025-marine-mammal-protection-act-comparability-finding-determinations</a>.
Dated: March 6, 2026.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-04747 Filed 3-10-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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