April 24, 2023 — Five U.S. senators have reintroduced the Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act, which would ban vessels involved in illegal fishing from U.S. ports and waters.
U.S. senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) introduced the bill on 20 April, after having backed it in the previous congressional session in August 2022.
April 23, 2o23 — U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Brian Schatz (D-Hawai’i), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) Thursday introduced S.1227, the Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act.
This legislation is to 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 advancing international and bilateral negotiations to achieve enforceable agreements and treaties.
The FISH Act would build on prior landmark legislation against IUU fishing, including the Maritime SAFE Act, authored by Senators Wicker and Chris Coons (D-Del.) and signed into law in December 2019 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.