U.S. lawmakers in Congress have proposed a resolution condemning the use of flags of convenience, a practice where owners register their vessels in nations with lower standards and weaker regulatory enforcement to avoid taxes and regulations in their home nation.
Introduced by U.S. Representative James Moylan (R-Guam) and U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii), the resolution “condemns the international use of flag of convenience to avoid tariffs, sanctions, workplace rights, and basic safety standards, as well as supporting criminal opportunity, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and terrorist operations.”
The resolution pins flags of convenience as a key enabler of IUU fishing, a practice estimated to cost the global seafood industry up to USD 50 billion (EUR 44 billion) annually.
“This practice is a global problem, but is particular dangerous for Guam as it harms U.S. maritime industries and increases the likelihood of illegal unreported fishing,” Moylan said in a social media post.
The legislation is backed by conservation NGO Oceana and the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency.
“We commend Representatives Moylan and Tokuda for shining a spotlight on the abusive practice of flags of convenience, which can shield illegal fishing and forced labor from scrutiny,” Oceana Campaign Director and Senior Scientist Max Valentine said in a statement. “This bipartisan resolution is a powerful signal that the United States will not tolerate lawlessness at sea. We need to stop allowing bad actors to hide behind flags of convenience and start demanding real accountability for the vessels fishing on our oceans. Congress must continue to lead in holding bad actors accountable and ensuring transparency and fairness in the global seafood trade.”
The resolution comes shortly after the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission announced an investigation into whether flags of convenience and other efforts to skirt flagging regulations are hurting American shipping conditions.
“By offering to register and flag vessels with little or no oversight or regulation, countries may compete against one another to gain revenue from the associated fees and to minimize the expenses associated with inspecting vessels and ensuring compliance with appropriate maintenance and safety requirements,” the commission stated in a notice on the Federal Register. “In doing so, these nations compete to lower the cost of registering and flagging vessels beyond a point where they can ensure the efficiency, reliability, and safety of the vessels used in the ocean shipping supply chain. The use of these flags of convenience endangers the ocean shipping supply chain.”
There have been multiple recent reports connecting flags of convenience to safety issues. According to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the vessel that collided with and caused the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., last year was flagged to Singapore and registered in the Marshall Islands – a nation frequently accused of granting flags of convenience.
“The crash of the MV Dali into the Francis Scott Key Bridge highlights not only the fragility of domestic and international supply chains, but also the dangers posed to critical infrastructure by international ocean shipping vessels operating under flags of convenience,” the commission noted.
The commission is accepting comments on the issue for its investigation through 20 August 2025.
