Forty-six species of crustaceans, fishes, gastropods

and elasmobranchs were observed as by-catch, with more than 75% of species discarded and 25% retained. An artisanal fleet of about 800 skiffs operates year-round using gill SCH772984 research buy nets to target shrimp (September–March), finfish (February–May), sharks, and rays (May–June) [100]. Several threatened and endangered species are caught regularly [101] and [102]. Moreover, by-catch in the shrimp fishery is the leading cause of death for the vaquita, a small porpoise endemic to the Gulf of California that is widely cited as the most endangered mammal in the world with a population of only around 200 individuals [103]. Adverse environmental impacts such as these are often symptomatic of fisheries that engage in illegal activities. Overall transparency

for catches by the artisanal fleets in Mexico is increasing due to a high level of community-based management for long-term stewardship. Transparency of wild shrimp exports to the United States, however, is very low, compounded by the failure of trade statistics in the USA to differentiate wild from farmed shrimp products in imports. One leading U.S. importer advertises a mix of wild and farmed shrimp from Mexico in their products, reflecting the generally poor Selleck CX5461 transparency of sources in the U.S. market for shrimp. A number of instruments that could control the trade in illegally caught seafood products already exist within the USA, but are not well designed for today’s massive global seafood trade and are not sufficiently enforced. One example is the High Seas Driftnet Moratorium Protection Act, which clearly establishes that any commerce in products from drift net caught fisheries is illegal. Another instrument very is the Lacey Act, which

has occasionally been used in fisheries. However, the infrequency of Lacey Act actions, and their disconnection from routine border enforcement measures raises substantial questions about the ability of the Act as currently implemented to prevent or effectively deter the imports of illegally caught fish into the United States on the scale reported here. A Lacey Act process to parallel the 2008 amendment that inhibited the use of imported illegal logs may partly address the problem, but this too may well need to work in conjunction with a comprehensive seafood traceability process that excludes IUU products from entering the supply chain. Indeed, these tools as currently implemented appear to be inadequate to address the large quantities of illegally caught seafood that are entering the market in the USA. In addition to more rigorous inspection and border controls aimed at detecting and deterring illegal imports, government and private sector systems are called for to address the lack of transparency and traceability in wild seafood supply chains.