Statement of policy

Source Credit

It is the policy of the United States__1
(1) to take action to curtail the global trade in seafood and seafood products derived from IUU fishing, including its links to forced labor and transnational organized illegal activity;
(2) to develop holistic diplomatic, military, law enforcement, economic, and capacity-building tools to counter IUU fishing;
(3) to provide technical assistance to countries in priority regions and priority flag states to combat IUU fishing, including assistance—
(A) to increase local, national, and regional level capacities to counter IUU fishing through the engagement of law enforcement and security forces;
(B) to enhance port capacity and security, including by supporting other countries in working toward the adoption and implementation of the Port State Measures Agreement;
(C) to combat corruption and increase transparency and traceability in fisheries management and trade;
(D) to enhance information sharing within and across governments and multilateral organizations through the development and use of agreed standards for information sharing; and
(E) to support effective, science-based fisheries management regimes that promote legal and safe fisheries and act as a deterrent to IUU fishing;
(4) to promote global maritime security through improved capacity and technological assistance to support improved maritime domain awareness;
(5) to engage with priority flag states to encourage the use of high quality vessel tracking technologies where existing enforcement tools are lacking;
(6) to engage with multilateral organizations working on fisheries issues, including Regional Fisheries Management Organizations and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to combat and deter IUU fishing;
(7) to advance information sharing across governments and multilateral organizations in areas that cross multiple jurisdictions, through the development and use of an agreed standard for information sharing;
(8) to continue to use existing and future trade agreements to combat IUU fishing;
(9) to employ appropriate assets and resources of the United States Government in a coordinated manner to disrupt the illicit networks involved in IUU fishing;
(10) to continue to declassify and make available, as appropriate and practicable, technologies developed by the United States Government that can be used to help counter IUU fishing;
(11) to recognize the ties of IUU fishing to transnational organized illegal activity, including human trafficking and illegal trade in narcotics and arms, and as applicable, to focus on illicit activity in a coordinated, cross-cutting manner;
(12) to recognize and respond to poor working conditions, labor abuses, and other violent crimes in the fishing industry;
(13) to increase and improve global transparency and traceability along the seafood supply chain as—
(A) a deterrent to IUU fishing; and
(B) an approach for strengthening fisheries management and food security; and
(14) to promote technological investment and innovation to combat IUU fishing.

History

(Pub. L. 116–92, div. C, title XXXV, §3534, Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 2000.)