On Friday, November 5, 2015, President Obama signed into law H.R. 774, the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Enforcement Act, marking a major milestone in the Administration’s progress toward implementing recommendations set forth by the President’s Task Force on Combating IUU Fishing and Seafood Fraud. The legislation will help the U.S. advance its efforts to achieve sustainable fisheries globally and prevent illegally harvested fish from entering our ports and markets.
The legislation authorizes implementation of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Agreement on Port State Measures, which requires foreign fishing vessels to give adequate notice of intent to visit ports, restricts the entry of fishing vessels known or suspected to engage in illegal fishing, and denies port services to such vessels. While the United States already implements most of the components of the Port State Measures Agreement, formal ratification will provide us with additional leverage to expand adoption of these measures around the world.
The bill also implements U.S. commitments under the Antigua Convention that updates the framework for managing shared stocks of tunas and other highly migratory species in the eastern Pacific Ocean and strengthens the ability of the United States to address fishing activities of concern by foreign nations under the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act.
This is positive start and we look forward to jumping right to the next step to work with Congress to secure the necessary additional enforcement authorities to prevent illegally harvested or falsely labeled fish from being sold in the United States.
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