05/21/2026
Marine Mammal Alliance Nantucket is always on call to rescue these animals, slowly strangling from marine debris. We can do better as a species. Call our Hotline if you see any marine mammal ashore. 833-667-6626
Today, AWI, along with the Center for Biological Diversity and NRDC—represented by Earthjustice —sued the federal government to stop seafood imports into the United States from a number of countries that are not doing enough to tackle the incidental entanglement, drowning, injury, and deaths of thousands of dolphins, whales, seals, and other marine mammals in their fisheries.
Since 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) has prohibited the US from allowing seafood to enter the country unless exporting nations meet the same marine mammal “bycatch” measures as those required under the MMPA. The US government largely ignored this requirement until 2016, when it established a process for deciding which fisheries to ban, and in 2025—more than 50 years after the MMPA was enacted—officials finally banned imports of non-compliant seafood.
However, the US is continuing to allow seafood imports from Argentina, the United Kingdom, India, and other places that allow deadly commercial fishing practices. The US cannot let these countries off the hook, and we are not letting this flawed decision-making go unchallenged.
📸: An entangled seal, one of hundreds of thousands of marine mammals who are caught and killed in fishing gear around the globe each year. Photo by Ian Dyball.
