Biodiversity Policy Engagement Analysis
Biodiversity Lobbying Overview: The National Fisheries Institute (NFI), has had limited transparent engagement on biodiversity-related policy. Its US Senate lobbying disclosures indicate a higher level of engagement than it has been possible to find positions for in publicly available data sources.
Top-line Messaging on Biodiversity Loss: NFI does not appear to have taken positions on the science of biodiversity loss. In a March 2022 tweet, NFI stated that "Fisheries are concerned with the #sustainability of marine biodiversity", but does not appear to have taken a clear position on the need for drastic action to address biodiversity loss or the need for government action.
Engagement with Biodiversity-Related Regulations: On its website, accessed in October 2024, described supporting measures to reduce biodiversity loss due to unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. However, NFI has consistently opposed specific policy measures aimed at preventing overexploitation of species. NFI has strongly opposed the expansion of Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) to a wider number of species, including in comments to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in April 2023 and several media reports from 2022-23. In September 2023 comments to the NOAA, NFI opposed updates to the Magnuson-Stevens Act to better account for climate change and environmental justice issues when setting allocations and bycatch rules.
NFI has opposed policies intended to reduce habitat loss. In June 2021, former NFI president Jim Connelly reportedly supported weakening the goal to protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030 (the ‘30 x 30’ target) in a briefing to the Northeast Atlantic Seafood Forum. In June 2024, NFI signed a joint letter opposing the Bottom Trawl Clarity Act, which would restrict areas where bottom trawling is allowed. In a press release on the act, NFI President and CEO Lisa Walled Picard described the policy as “ideological hostility to certain harvesting methods”.
Positioning on Statutory Protection of Wildlife: NFI does not appear to have expressed a position on statutory protection of wildlife.