Trump Signs Illegal Red Snapper and Tuna Enforcement Act, Authorizing Chemical Testing to Determine Seafood Country of Origin
U.S. President Trump signed the Illegal Red Snapper and Tuna Enforcement Act on October 15, 2026, requiring NOAA Fisheries to work with NIST to develop a standard method for testing seafood country of origin, with red snapper and tuna as the pilot-phase targets.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Illegal Red Snapper and Tuna Enforcement Act on October 15, 2026, making it law.
The Act requires NOAA Fisheries (the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries service) to work with NIST (the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology) to develop a standard method for testing the country of origin of seafood. The Act specifies that the method should include a portable field testing tool that uses chemical analysis to determine where seafood comes from. Lawmakers explicitly require that, "to the extent practicable," the test should apply to prepared raw products such as ceviche, sashimi, sushi and poke.
In the pilot phase, the program will focus on two representative stocks: red snapper, representing resident stocks, and tuna, representing highly migratory stocks.
The legislation took more than a year to move through Congress. The U.S. Senate first passed the bill by unanimous consent in July 2025; the House passed an amended version by voice vote on September 14, 2026. The Senate then quickly agreed to minor changes recommended by the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology during its February 2026 markup, and sent the bill to Trump for signature.
Senate Commerce Republicans said in a social media post: "Red snapper is one of the most well-managed and profitable fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico, but illegal fishing by Mexican lanchas puts law-abiding American fishermen and seafood producers at a competitive disadvantage. Now that this bipartisan bill is law, it will allow federal and state enforcement officers to use technology to determine the country of origin of specific fish species before they are sold in the United States, and to seize any such illegally caught fish."
According to Senate Commerce Republicans, the new law will allow federal and state enforcement officers to use technology capable of determining the country of origin of specific fish species and to seize illegally caught catch before sale.