January 20, 2026 — The U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party has released an investigation accusing China of being “the world’s largest perpetrator of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.”
The committee made several strong claims about China’s distant-water fishing fleet, accusing the Chinese government of using the fleet of roughly 16,000 vessels for intimidation and control.
January 15, 2026 — U.S. government officials told Congressional lawmakers the Coast Guard needs more vessels, personnel, and tools to prevent illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) in U.S. and distant waters.
“IUU is a threat to both the global economy and the U.S. economy. The illegal catch that is brought into the United States … impacts the USD 150 billion [EUR 129 billion] that our fishermen bring to the global domestic product,” Rear Admiral David Barata, the Coast Guard’s deputy commandant for operations policy, testified to lawmakers during a 13 January House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee hearing.
December 8, 2025 — U.S. lawmakers have reintroduced legislation that would allow fishery disaster funding to be awarded to commercial fisheries hurt by foreign subsidies, predatory pricing, and illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s fishery resource disasters assistance program provides financial assistance to commercial fishers and related businesses that experience sudden, unexpected losses. NOAA Fisheries has awarded fishery disaster determinations for hurricanes, harmful algal blooms, oil spills, and other man-made or natural events that cause harm to commercial fisheries.
December 5, 2025 — The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee has approved the Stop Illegal Fishing Act, legislation that authorizes U.S. President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on foreign individuals and vessels that engage in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) fishing.
The authors of the bill say the measure is necessary to crack down on large foreign fishing fleets that have dodgy records on the environment and human rights – particularly China’s distant-water fleet.
November 24, 2025 — The European Union is failing to keep illicit seafood products from entering its borders, despite having some of the strongest illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing restrictions on paper, according to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF).
The NGO – along with Oceana, The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Nature Conservancy, and WWF EU, all of which comprise the E.U.’s IUU Fishing Coalition – has warned in a new report – “Beyond CATCH: Why E.U. import controls still fail to keep illegal seafood out of the market” – that this flow of IUU products into the bloc is creating “dangerous loopholes” that threaten consumer trust, fair competition, and global efforts to combat fisheries crime.
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.
October 13, 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.
August 27, 2025 — A pair of senators from the United States have sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, demanding the federal government issue “the toughest possible sanctions on seafood from China” over human rights violations in its commercial fishing industry.
In the 21 August letter, U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Alabama) and U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida) claimed illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in China’s seafood industry was harmful to U.S. workers and a threat to national security.
August 14, 2025 — The Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has revealed the results of its latest operation in the North Pacific to fight illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Canada launched Operation North Pacific Guard in May, marking the third straight year Canada’s DFO has led the annual high-seas patrol. This year, an unprecedented four separate countries – South Korea, Japan, Canada, and the U.S. – participated in the mission, covering thousands of nautical miles.
June 24, 2025 — The Coast Guard only reached halfway toward its goals for intercepting illegal foreign fishing in U.S. waters during 2023-2024, as immigration enforcement and other missions absorbed more resources, according to a report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general.
“Although the Coast Guard recognizes IUU (illegal, unreported, and unregulated) fishing as one of the world’s top maritime security threats, its low interdiction rates and limited enforcement hours show a significant gap between the severity of the threat and the level of commitment required to effectively address it,” according to the inspector general report issued June 6.
In 2023 and 2024, “the Coast Guard estimatedthat it spent $687 million of its appropriations combating IUU fishing. Based on these estimates, we calculated that the Coast Guard spent approximately $5.9 million per IUU fishing interdiction,” the Homeland Security analysts wrote.