A task force created in the United States to study Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and seafood fraud has released its initial recommendations on combating the problem and is now seeking public input on how to implement them.
The Presidential Task Force on Combating IUU Fishing and Seafood Fraud’s report has set up a series of broad long-term goals, including:
- Combat IUU fishing and seafood fraud at the international level
- Strengthen enforcement and enhance enforcement tools to combat IUU fishing and seafood fraud
- Create and expand partnerships with state and local governments, industry, and non-governmental organizations to identify and eliminate seafood fraud and IUU seafood in U.S. commerce
- Establish a risk-based traceability program to track seafood from harvest to entry into U.S. commerce to prevent entry of illegal product into the supply chain and better inform retailers and consumers.
The U.S. State Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) created the task force back in June as part of the State Department’s “Our Ocean” conference. The task force is expected to release an action plan in early 2015. Right now, according to NOAA, the task force is seeking “input and guidance” from the public on how to implement the broad recommendations, in a comment period from 18 December 2014 to 20 January 2015.
“The recommendations will be an important step in constructing a more systematic, coordinated program for tackling IUU and seafood fraud domestically while also increasing our leadership role in this area internationally,” NOAA said in a statement.
National Fisheries Institute (NFI) President John Connelly issued a brief statement saying NFI has “zero tolerance for illegal fishing and all forms of commercial seafood fraud.”
Connelly reiterated NFI’s stance of backing enforcement of existing regulations to combat IUU fishing, rather than creating new ones.
“While the recommendations clarify the task force’s direction and strategy, NFI looks forward to the specific ideas on how the agencies will implement the recommendations,” Connelly said.
Environmental activist group Oceana called the recommendations “a real step forward” and said in a statement that traceability and transparency were key in the IUU fight.
“Tracking where, when and how our seafood is caught, and ensuring that this basic information follows the product through each step in the supply chain, will help to eliminate opportunities for seafood fraud and the illegal fishing it can disguise,” said Beth Lowell, Oceana’s senior campaign director.
The Pew Charitable Trusts called the recommendations “a robust proposal,” and urged Congress to support new measures to combat IUU fishing.
“The world can absolutely eradicate illegal fishing, and the recommendations laid out by the task force contain many of the measures that can help solve this global problem,” said Karen Sack, Pew’s senior director of international oceans.
The new recommendations also drew praise from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
“The draft recommendations released for public comment today provide a foundation for strengthened U.S. leadership in improving international IUU enforcement, tightened domestic controls over the seafood that enters the U.S. market, and enhanced flow of information about seafood products throughout the seafood supply chain (known as seafood traceability),” said Margaret Spring, VP of conservation and science and chief conservation officer at the aquarium.
