The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has advanced the Protecting Global Fisheries Act, legislation introduced last year to crack down on foreign illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Introduced by U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) and U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), the legislation would give the president the authority to impose sanctions on foreign persons or vessels that participate or enable IUU fishing.
“Illegal fishing practices abroad threaten Louisiana. Seafood production is a driver of our economy and way of life,” Cassidy said in a statement. “By cracking down on unfair competition from IUU fishing, we can preserve jobs, protect our local economies, strengthen national security, and safeguard marine habitats.”
The legislation singles out China as the main enabler of IUU fishing around the globe.
“The People’s Republic of China is a particularly egregious perpetrator of IUU fishing violations, and the PRC’s lawless behavior warrants a coordinated response from the U.S. government and our international partners,” Kaine said in introducing the bill. “This bipartisan legislation takes important steps to deter IUU fishing by the PRC and other bad actors and hold those participating in IUU fishing accountable for their actions.”
In January, the U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party – a Congressional body that makes policy recommendations to combat the perceived threats posed by China’s government – released an investigation targeting the nation’s distant-water fishing fleet. The committee accused China of being “the world’s largest perpetrator of IUU fishing” and using its fleet of roughly 16,000 vessels for intimidation and control.
“Communist China’s fishing fleet is not a commercial enterprise; it is a weapon of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP],” U.S. Representative Carlos Giménez (R-Florida) said upon the report's release. “The CCP commands the world’s largest fishing armada like a military force, using it to strip resources from nations, exploit forced labor, destroy marine ecosystems, and dominate global seafood supply chains.
The Protecting Global Fisheries Act would require the secretary of state of deliver an annual report to Congress on “the global illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing patterns, strategic goals, and regional priorities of the People’s Republic of China.”
Kaine praised the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – which he is a member of – for advancing the legislation along with his bill on addressing illegal gold mining.
“Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and illicit gold mining contribute to instability in our hemisphere by funding organized crime, devastating environments and ecosystems, and serving as a hotbed for human rights abuses. I’m glad that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced my bipartisan legislation to combat IUU fishing and illegal gold mining in the Western Hemisphere and to hold bad actors, especially China and organized criminal groups, accountable,” Kaine said. “These bills will promote security and prosperity in the Americas and around the world, and I urge the full Senate to pass this bipartisan legislation as soon as possible.”
The committee technically approved an amended version of the bill that makes slight changes to the legislation. While the first draft of the bill simply gave the president the authority to impose sanctions, the amended bill requires the secretary of the treasury to recommend sanctions to the president. It also removes a provision that would authorize the president to deny foreign vessels access to U.S. ports.
“I’m pleased with the swift passage of legislation today that will directly better American interests around the world,” U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a release.
