Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien has urged the US authorities to reconsider their decision to reject the equivalence of 12 Vietnamese fishing methods under the US Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), under the US Department of Commerce (DOC), had previously notified Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment of its decision to deny equivalence for these 12 fishing methods.

As a result, seafood harvested using these methods will be banned from entering the US starting January 1, 2026. This effectively amounts to an import ban and could severely impact Vietnam’s exports of key seafood products to the US, including tuna, swordfish, grouper, mackerel, mullet, crab, squid, and scad.

In a letter sent to US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on September 15, minister Dien called on the DOC and NOAA to reconsider the decision to avoid serious disruptions to bilateral trade and to safeguard the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fishermen and workers.

He also requested Secretary Lutnick to objectively review the ongoing 19th administrative review of anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese shrimp exports. He emphasised that Vietnamese shrimp exporters are reliable and fair business partners in the US market.

He stressed that these decisions not only hold significance for Vietnamese producers, exporters, farmers, and fishermen, but also benefit US importers, workers, and consumers.

VASEP emphasized that Vietnam’s seafood industry, in coordination with the Government and local authorities, has made continuous and significant efforts to modernize, enhance accountability, and strengthen fisheries management. These efforts include the enactment of the 2017 Fisheries Law, increased resource allocation for local management, and compliance with international programs such as anti-IUU (Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing), SIMP (Seafood Import Monitoring Program), and FIP (Fishery Improvement Projects) for crab and tuna. Vietnam has also implemented Dolphin-Safe Certification for its tuna export supply chain, alongside various legal frameworks and marine mammal protection initiatives.