United States lawmakers are introducing a new bill that its authors say will strengthen the government’s efforts to fight Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.
U.S. Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska), one of the bill’s sponsors, called it the IUU Fishing Enforcement Act of 2015. In a joint statement, Young and Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU) said the bill would strengthen existing enforcement measures regarding inspection, identification and monitoring of illegal foreign vessels. It would also add civil and criminal penalties to international agreements and grant more authority to share data with foreign governments.
“Countries like Australia, Palau and now even Papua New Guinea have led the way in combating IUU fishing, and the U.S. must take immediate and forceful action as well,” Bordallo said. “This bill provides much-needed enforcement tools to the Coast Guard and NOAA to combat IUU fishing, and it implements a treaty ratified by the Senate last year to deny vessels port entry and services if they engage in IUU fishing.”
“This important legislation, which imposes added sanctions on countries whose vessels engage in IUU fishing, would provide our authorities the tools they need to
fight back against these global criminals and ensure millions of pounds of illegally caught product never reach market,” said Congressman Young.
Congressman Young and the bill’s original sponsor Congresswoman Bordallo, introduced the legislation this week, along with Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Rob Wittman (R-VA), and John Garamendi (D-CA).
