NOAA Fisheries recently published its final rule establishing the
Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) last December 9, 2016. The program
establishes for imports of certain seafood products, the reporting and
recordkeeping requirements needed to prevent illegal, unreported and
unregulated (IUU)-caught and/or misrepresented seafood from entering the U.S.
market. This will require US exporters to provide and report key data, from the
point of harvest to the point of entry into U.S. market, of exported fish and
fishery products. The effective date of the program will be on January 1, 2018.
In an effort
to provide the industry awareness of and compliance with the Program’s traceability
data reporting and record keeping requirements, SOCSKSARGEN Federation of Fishing and Allied
Industries, Inc. (SFFAII) in partnership with the USAID Oceans and Fisheries
Partnership held an orientation seminar on US NOAA Seafood Import Monitoring Program
on November 23, 2017. With the impeding implementation of the
program this coming January 1, 2018, all seven (7) canneries (Citramina Canning Corporation, Philbest Canning Corporation, Oceans Canning
Corporation, Seatrade Canning Corporation, General Tuna Canning Corporation,
Alliance Select Foods International Inc., Celebes Canning Corp) and members
of the Fresh Frozen Seafood Association of the Philippines (Sta. Cruz Seafood Inc, Rell and Renn Seafood
Sphere Inc, Ten Point Manufacturing Corporation, Mommy Gina Tuna Resources, and
PhilCinmic Industrial Corp) were present during the seminar.
The invited speaker Ms. Heather V. Brandon from NOAA's Office of
International Affairs and Seafood Inspection spoke to the participants through
video conferencing. She discussed the required key data to be collected and
reported—from harvest to the point of entry to the US market- by the exporter
to the US importer, the initial list of imported fish and fish products that
have been identified, and the model catch certificate with the required
information from the harvest event.
Ms. Brandon also highlighted the use of an aggregate harvest report for
small scale fisheries--twelve meters in length or less or 20 gross tons or less.
The collection of data can be per harvest at a single collection point in a
single calendar day or by landing by a vessel to which catches of small-scale
vessels were made at sea. This information is very important as some of the
supplies of the fresh frozen processors are from municipal small scale
fisheries as raised by Ms. Marife Quiam of PhilCinmic Industrial Corp.
One of the most pressing issue also as raised by Ten Point
Manufacturing was the scheduled deliveries of the month (November) that will enter the US Market on Janaury 1, 2018. Ms.
Brandon highlighted during the open forum that these deliveries will need to
have proper and complete documentation in compliance to the US SIMP if they
will reach the US Market on January 1.
Recognizing the need to communicate the program’s requirements to
their municipal fisher suppliers, the Fresh Frozen Seafood Association of the
Philippines called for a separate meeting with their suppliers.
