Bipartisan legislation would protect Rhode Island’s prized fishing industry by quashing unfair competition from illegal pirate fishing
Washington, DC –U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) cheered the passage of their Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act this week in a unanimous vote of the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee. The FISH Act would combat foreign illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by blacklisting offending vessels from U.S. ports and waters, bolstering the U.S. Coast Guard’s enforcement capabilities and partnerships, and advancing international and bilateral negotiations to achieve enforceable agreements and treaties.
“I thank Senator Sullivan, my longtime partner on oceans issues, for his leadership in shepherding the bipartisan FISH Act through the Commerce Committee. Our bill cracks down on illegal pirate fishing operations to level the playing field for Rhode Island fishermen and processors who play by the rules, and will help nurture the fisheries that keep our oceans and coastal communities so healthy and vibrant,” said Sen. Whitehouse, co-founder of the Senate Oceans Caucus.
“The geopolitics of the North Pacific and the Arctic are changing dramatically, with Russia and China increasing their aggression and ruinous activities near Alaska’s waters,” said Sen. Sullivan. “One particularly insidious threat is Chinese and Russian fishing fleets that ignore basic seafood harvest rules and best practices, and ravage fish stocks without regard for any other users or future generations. These grey fleets, which literally utilize slave labor in many cases, are a cancer on fisheries throughout the world and undercut our fishermen, who fish sustainably. I want to thank my Commerce Committee colleagues for unanimously passing our FISH Act and fighting back against IUU fishing on behalf of our fishermen and coastal communities.”
The legislation is cosponsored by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Roger Wicker (R-MS). Key provisions of the FISH Act would:
- Direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a blacklist of foreign vessels and owners that have engaged in IUU fishing;
- Direct the administration to address IUU fishing in any relevant international agreement;
- Direct the U.S. Coast Guard to increase its work with partner countries and increase at-sea inspection of foreign vessels suspected of IUU fishing; and
- Direct the administration to report to Congress on how new technologies can aid in the fight against IUU fishing, the complexities of the seafood trade relationship between Russia and China, and the economic costs of IUU fishing to the U.S.
Whitehouse and Sullivan have long partnered to craft bipartisan policies to confront the major challenges of ocean plastic pollution. Whitehouse and Sullivan’s Save Our Seas 2.0 Act was signed into law in 2020. The bipartisan legislation built on the success of the Senators’ original landmark Save Our Seas Act, which became law in 2018. Whitehouse has previously partnered with Senator Sullivan to strengthen maritime security and law enforcement provisions related to combatting IUU pirate fishing.
