Saving Seafood

FACT SHEET: Marking the One Year Anniversary of the National Security Memorandum on Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Associated Labor Abuses

June 28, 2023 — The following was released by the White House:

One year ago, on June 27th, 2022, President Biden signed the historic National Security Memorandum on Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Associated Labor Abuses (NSM-11).

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is providing a status update on actions taken under National Security Memorandum-11 to address the problem of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, including by distant water fishing vessels; protect ocean ecosystems; safeguard seafood supply chains; and combat forced labor abuses within the seafood industry.

NSM-11’s first year implementation has been strengthened by action through and coordination with the U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing established pursuant to section 3551 of the Maritime Security and Fisheries Enforcement (SAFE) Act (16 U.S.C. 8031), and chaired by the Department of State, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in collaboration with 21 other member agencies.

  • The U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing released the first National Five-Year Strategy for Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing on October 19, 2022.  The Strategy details U.S. priorities and plans to combat IUU fishing, curtail trade in seafood and seafood products derived from IUU fishing, and promote global maritime security.  The Strategy lists five priority flag states and administrations (Ecuador, Panama, Senegal, Taiwan, and Vietnam) in regions where the Working Group will focus its work with partners on combating IUU fishing and related threats.  Together with other governments and authorities, the seafood industry, academia, philanthropies, and nongovernmental stakeholders, the United States aims to use this strategy to make tangible progress in addressing IUU fishing and to execute a shared global vision for sustainable stewardship of marine resources.
  • The U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing created a new interagency task group on identifying and countering criminal networks and enterprises that support IUU fishing.  This task group will identify examples and recommendations for how agencies can use unique authorities and programs to better identify and target the individuals and entities behind many types of IUU fishing, using insight from the tools counter-narcotics and counter-wildlife trafficking communities have adopted in their work.
  • NOAA, State and DOL co-chair the U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing sub-working group on Labor, taking action to understand the gaps in enforcement authorities to counter labor abuses, and to coordinate technical assistance in fishing across the interagency, while supporting standing reporting requirements.

IUU fishing can be associated with forced labor, a form of human trafficking, and other crimes and human rights abuses.  These abuses undermine the livelihoods and human rights of fishers globally, alongside U.S. economic competitiveness, national security, and fishery sustainability. Actions under NSM-11 to address forced labor in the seafood industry include:

  • Sanctioning perpetrators of IUU fishing and serious human rights abuse: On December 9, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two individuals, Li Zhenyu and Xinrong Zhuo, and the networks of entities they control, including Dalian Ocean Fishing Co., Ltd. and Pingtan Marine Enterprise, Ltd. along with eight other affiliated entities. Additionally, this action identified 157 People’s Republic of China (PRC) flagged fishing vessels in which these entities have an interest. These actions were taken pursuant to Executive Order 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world. The designation of Pingtan Marine Enterprise was the first time Treasury has designated an entity listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The action demonstrates the U.S. government’s ongoing effort to impose tangible and significant consequences on those engaged in serious human rights abuse, including on those vessels engaged in IUU fishing.
  • Establishing the Collaborative Accelerator for Lawful Maritime Conditions in Seafood (CALM-CS). Developed, established and chaired by NOAA, with participation from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Labor (DOL), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), the U.S. Department of State (State), and representatives from all relevant sectors—workers, harvesters, processors, retailers, brokers, non-governmental organizations, and think tanks—this public-private partnership promotes legal and safe working conditions throughout the fishing and seafood industry. CALM-CS working groups are each co-chaired by one representative from the U.S. government and one from an external sector, helping to give workers a voice, support at-risk populations at sea, promote standards and due diligence, identify illegal labor practices, and enhance safety and labor conditions aboard U.S. vessels.
  • DOL’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) has published research and created tools to raise public awareness of forced labor and child labor in seafood supply chains.
    • DOL’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor includes coverage of forced labor and child labor in seafood supply chains, as required under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005 and subsequent reauthorizations.
    • The Sweat and Toil App presents information on seafood and other products made with forced labor or child labor in an accessible, user-friendly format.
    • The Better Trade Tool provides data on goods imported into the United States which are at risk of being produced with forced or child labor.
    • DOL’s Comply Chain tool helps companies undertake effective due diligence to identify, address and mitigate child and forced labor in their global supply chains. The tool is broadly applicable to all global supply chains, and includes several seafood case studies.
    • DOL has also published a fishing fact sheet on strengthening labor conditions and promoting good jobs in the fishing sector.
    • DOL frequently engaged with fishers’ unions and industry, sharing tools to protect fishers from labor exploitation, including the union campaign for Wi-Fi aboard vessels, at venues such as the Seafood Expo North America, Seafood Expo Global, the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions Annual Meeting, and the Global Migration Film Festival.

Fed-up fishermen slap Biden admin with lawsuit, say regulations sinking business

June 22, 2023 — Two fishermen slapped the Biden administration with a lawsuit that says Congress and several unelected councils are unconstitutionally regulating and overseeing fisheries.

Commercial fishermen George Arnesen of Louisiana and Ryan Bradley of Mississippi argue that Congress has placed regulatory authority in the hands of an “unconstitutional regime” that puts local fisherman “at the mercy of unaccountable bureaucrats who answers only to themselves.”

The lawsuit specifically cites the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law that governs marine fisheries management located within U.S. federal waters, with the plaintiffs calling it “Congress’s first comprehensive attempt to regulate fishing in federal waters.”

Read the full article at Fox News

US government watchdog to investigate impacts of offshore wind development

June 21, 2023 — A U.S. government watchdog agency will investigate the impact of offshore wind development on the fishing industry and the environment at the behest of congressional Republicans.

In March 2023, Republicans began a push for more federal scrutiny of efforts by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to advance offshore wind projects along the U.S. East Coast, culminating in a request to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) – an independent agency that conducts investigations and audits for Congress – to conduct a study on the sufficiency of the environmental review processes for offshore wind projects.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Biden administration moves to restore endangered species protections dropped by Trump

June 21, 2o23 — The Biden administration proposed bringing back rules to protect imperiled plants and animals on Wednesday as officials moved to reverse changes under former President Donald Trump that weakened the Endangered Species Act.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it would reinstate a decades-old regulation that mandates blanket protections for species newly classified as threatened.

The blanket protections regulation was dropped in 2019 as part of a suite of changes to the application of the species law that were encouraged by industry, even as extinctions accelerate globally due to habitat loss and other pressures.

Officials also would no longer consider economic impacts when deciding if animals and plants need protection. And the rules make it easier to designate areas as critical for a species’ survival, even if it is no longer found in those locations.

That could help with the recovery of imperiled fish and freshwater mussels in the Southeast, where the aquatic animals in many cases are absent from portions of their historical range, said Fish and Wildlife Service Assistant Director Gary Frazer.

Read the full article at ABC News

OREGON: Oregon governor, members of Congress call for pause on offshore wind turbines

June 14, 2023 — Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek is joining a chorus of voices — including tribes and commercial fishermen — urging the Biden administration to slow down its push for floating wind farms in the Pacific Ocean off the state’s southern coast.

In a letter sent June 9 to Elizabeth Klein, director of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, Kotek asked the agency to pause identifying and leasing offshore wind areas in order to fully evaluate impacts on the environment and economy.

The letter was also signed by U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and Reps. Val Hoyle and Suzanne Bonamici, all Democrats.

Read the full article at Capital Press

Biden administration announces $2.6 billion toward coastal climate resilience

June 6, 2023 — The Commerce Department has announced it will put $2.6 billion toward coastal climate resilience in funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The funds, announced on a Monday call with the press, will include about $400 million for tribal communities in support of habitat restoration, fish hatcheries and Pacific salmon, and those in the direct path of climate change.

Another $349 million will go specifically to climate resilience in fisheries, while another $60 million will go toward climate-resilience job placement and training.

Read the full at The Hill

Biden admin advances first-ever wind leasing in Gulf of Mexico amid calls for moratorium

May 31 2023 — The Biden administration inched closer to green-lighting offshore wind energy lease sales spanning about 682,000 acres in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published a final environmental assessment which it described as a “key milestone” as part of the Biden administration’s goal of holding the first-ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. The assessment, which analyzed impacts leasing would have on the environment and wildlife, was coincided with a finding of no significant impacts.

“The completion of our environmental review is an important step forward to advance clean energy development in a responsible manner while promoting economic vitality and well-paying jobs in the Gulf of Mexico region,” BOEM Director Liz Klein said in a statement.

Read the full article at Fox News

In Rose Garden address, Biden celebrates with Alaskans opposed to Pebble mine

May 14, 2023 — President Joe Biden celebrated his conservation achievements Thursday with a Rose Garden address. The No. 1 item on his list? Blocking the Pebble mine, a proposed open-pit gold and copper mine upstream from the sockeye-rich waters of Bristol Bay.

“Bristol Bay is an extraordinary place, unlike anywhere in the world,” the president said. “Six rivers meet there, traveling through 40,000 miles of tundra, wetlands and lakes, collecting freshwater and salmon along the way … making this the largest sockeye salmon fishery on all the earth.”

Biden announced no new developments in the ongoing Pebble saga. His speech cited scores of sanctuaries and safeguards his administration created, from the mountains of Nevada to the Pacific Ocean. But the primacy he gave to this one part of Southwest Alaska shows how committed Biden is to stopping Pebble, and how he sees it as a centerpiece of his environmental record.

United Tribes of Bristol Bay Executive Director Alannah Hurley was invited to Washington, D.C., to introduce the president. In a blue print kuspuk, she spoke of how her salmon-centered community has lived with a threat looming over them for 20 years.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

Biden admin is rushing to industrialize US oceans to stop climate change: ‘Environmental wrecking ball’

April 25, 2023 — The Biden administration is pushing full steam ahead to massively expand offshore wind development across millions of acres of federal waters, actions that critics warn would have dire ecological and economic impacts.

Days after taking office, President Biden issued an executive action ordering his administration to expand opportunities for the offshore wind industry as part of his aggressive climate agenda to curb greenhouse gas emissions and stop global warming. Months later, he outlined goals to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, the most ambitious goal of its kind worldwide.

“Two years ago, President Biden issued a bold challenge to move America towards a clean energy future,” Deb Haaland, the secretary of the Department of the Interior (DOI), said earlier this month. “The Interior Department answered that call and is moving rapidly to create a robust and sustainable clean energy economy with good-paying union jobs.”

In May 2021, the DOI’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approved the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project 12 miles off the coast of Massachusetts, marking the first ever large-scale offshore wind approval. Then, in November 2021, the agency approved the 130-megawatt Southfork Wind project off the coast of Long Island, New York, the second commercial-scale offshore project.

Read the full article at Fox News

NOAA begins process for Biden’s proposed marine sanctuary

April 21, 2023 — NOAA has started the process to designate a massive area in the Pacific Ocean a marine sanctuary, following up on a proposal by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.

The proposal, made in late March, would create a new marine sanctuary using the National Marine Sanctuaries Act around the Pacific Remote Islands area, a set of islands in the central Pacific Ocean. The proposal would include the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and currently unprotected areas of land and water, covering the full extent of the U.S.’s exclusive economic zone.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource