October 20, 2025 — U.S. senators voted to attach legislation designed to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing to the Senate’s annual military spending legislation just before it passed.
If passed, the Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act would require the U.S. government to establish a blacklist of vessels involved in IUU activities. Vessels on the list would be banned from U.S. waters. The legislation would also require the U.S. Coast Guard to increase at-sea inspections to combat IUU fishing. The bill also requires reports to be submitted on how new technologies can help combat IUU fishing and on how Russian and Chinese fishing affects the U.S. market.