SEATTLE, Washington—Wild Alaska Pollock industry leaders are united in thanks and praise for the Biden Administration, as well as Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, Alaska Congresswoman Mary Peltola, Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, and others, for leading a decisive effort to close a loophole that had previously allowed American consumers to unknowingly purchase lower quality Russian-harvested seafood, thereby risking directly blunting U.S. demand for seafood and indirectly supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) announced today. This most recent Executive Order concretely closes the pathway for lower quality Russian-caught fish like Pollock to enter the U.S. market and ensures American consumers have more transparency into the seafood products they purchase.
“This Executive Order is a significant win for Team Wild Alaska Pollock and we are eternally grateful to the Biden Administration and our Alaska and Washington Congressional delegations for recognizing this need and taking swift action,” said Bob Desautel, GAPP Chairman of the Board. “Our goal at GAPP is to ensure that consumers know the story behind their seafood purchases and we’ve invested heavily at GAPP in encouraging brands to put our name on front of package and on menus. Closing this loophole ensures that our brand—Wild Alaska Pollock—isn’t tarnished by countries harvesting the fish who don’t adhere to the high standards we do around quality, labor, sustainability and continuous improvement.”
The Biden administration announced last March a ban on Russian seafood imports in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The ban halted the direct importation of Russian-origin seafood, but failed to stop Russian seafood that has been further reprocessed in another country, like China, which was the subject of a recent investigation that brought unfair labor practices to light. This new Executive Order and resulting US Department of the Treasury determination, signed on December 22, 2022, will revise current guidance and close a loophole allowing Russian-harvested seafood that has been reprocessed in other countries to be imported into the United States, protecting American consumers who are seeking out high quality seafoods and care deeply about where their food comes from.
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