WASHINGTON — Illegal fishing undermines efforts to stop overfishing and shrinks the profits of legal commercial fishermen, the oceans chiefs of the United States and the European Union declared on Wednesday, as they pledged to cooperate to nab fish pirates.
Although it's a global problem, the U.S. and the European Union declared they have a big responsibility for solving it because they catch and import so much seafood. The EU is the world's top seafood importer, followed by Japan and the U.S.
Illegal fishing is one of the most serious threats to American fishing jobs and the health of the world's oceans, said Jane Lubchenco, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA says the illegal operations allow pirates to cut corners and lower their costs, and so they have an unfair competitive advantage. In the world's poorest countries, the large pirate vessels take fish that's needed by subsistence fishermen, Lubchenco said at a news conference here.
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