U.S. President Barack Obama signed new legislation into law late last week to combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, drawing praise from one crab fishing group in Alaska.
The Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers applauded the move, describing the new law as a measure that will help “level the playing field” against illegally harvested seafood products.
“These efforts are particularly relevant for crabbers and coastal communities in Alaska,” the group said in a statement. “For nearly two decades the Alaskan crab industry has been the ‘poster child’ of what can happen to law-abiding fishermen when their markets are flooded with illegal product.”
A study released last fall by the World Wildlife Fund spotlighted the problem of IUU crab fishing in Russian waters, and recent announcements of smaller legal catch quotas there has convinced the Alaska group that IUU crab fishing will remain a problem.
“As such, passage of this legislation is particularly timely and welcomed by Alaskan crabbers,” the group wrote.
