January 9, 2024 — The recent U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control ban on the importation of Chinese seafood that originates from Russia promises to crimp the cash funding Russia’s war against Ukraine. In less than 60 days, the hope is that the United States and other countries will adapt labeling and procedures that establish clarity on country of origin, presumably shutting down the seafood pipeline coming out of Russia.
That’s the ethical-geopolitical side of it.
The so-called Seafood Determination issued Dec. 22, 2023 expands the March 2022 federal ban on importation into the U.S. of seafood and other products of Russian origin to include salmon, cod, pollock and crab harvested in Russian waters or by Russian vessels, and processed in another country.
Though language in the federal sanction has been generalized to include any third-party countries reprocessing Russian seafood products for distribution into the United States, the main country of concern is China and the predominant fish species is Bering Sea pollock, a mainstay commodity among whitefish consumers worldwide.