Saving Seafood

United States Pushes for Stronger Action to Fight Illegal Fishing and Sustainably Manage Fisheries in the North Pacific

May 5, 2026 — The United States advanced its goals to combat harmful fishing practices at the North Pacific Fisheries Commission’s 10th annual meeting in Osaka, Japan, in April. The Commission is a regional fisheries management organization. It manages pelagic and deep-sea fisheries in the high seas of the North Pacific, other than those managed by other international organizations. The United States is one of nine Commission members.

The United States does not have fishing vessels active under NPFC but its outcomes align with broader U.S. objectives related to:

  • Promoting sustainable fisheries management
  • Bolstering maritime security on the high seas adjacent to U.S. waters
  • Ensuring U.S. seafood imports derive from legal, well-managed fisheries

Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing

A top U.S. priority is combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. IUU fishing undermines sustainable fisheries management, U.S. seafood competitiveness, and consumer confidence in seafood supplies.

The Commission took several steps to strengthen and implement tools to combat IUU fishing at its annual meeting, including adopting a measure on minimum standards for port inspections. This measure lays out basic obligations for port states and other actors when foreign fishing vessels request entry into port. It will help prevent the landing and entry into commerce of IUU fish and fish products. It is aligned with the Agreement on Port State Measures and related information exchange systems. Adoption of the measure complements similar measures in other regional fisheries management organizations. It also strengthens other monitoring, control, and surveillance tools the Commission has in place to combat IUU fishing at sea, such as:

  • High seas boardings and inspections
  • Vessel monitoring systems
  • Transshipment observer program

The Commission also adopted a U.S. proposal to amend the measure that establishes a list of vessels involved in IUU fishing and imposes consequences on those vessels. The existing measure had a potential gap in the timeframe under which vessels could be nominated for inclusion on the list. The U.S. proposal successfully closed that gap and strengthened other aspects of the measure. It launched a process to develop clearer procedures to share information with other regional fisheries management organizations and take comparable measures against vessels on other organizations’ IUU vessel lists.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

FISH Act moves closer to halting entry of illegal seafood harvests

April 23, 2026 — Commercial fisheries legislation targeting illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing harvests from entering U.S. markets is moving closer to being signed into law by President Trump.

The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday, April 21, passed the Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act out of committee. It next goes to the full House floor.

The Senate has already unanimously passed its version of the FISH Act, authored by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.

The legislation was introduced in the House by Reps. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and Seth Magaziner, D-R.I.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

US House committee advances FISH Act

April 23, 2026 — The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee has approved the Fighting Illegal Seafood Harvests (FISH) Act, legislation intended to penalize foreign vessels and individuals who participate illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

“My bipartisan bill with Representative Dan Crenshaw [R-Texas] and Rep. Nick Begich [R-Alaska] to crack down on illegal international fishing that undercuts Rhode Island fishermen just passed the House Natural Resources Committee,” U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-Rhode Island) said in a social media post. “Let’s level the playing field and stand up for local fishermen.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

National Fisheries Institute Applauds House Natural Resources Committee Passage of the FISH Act

April 21, 2026 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

The House Natural Resources Committee’s passage of the Fighting Illegal Seafood Harvests (FISH) Act is an important step for a significant bill.

The FISH Act is the definitive statute designed to combat Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. It offers concrete solutions that target bad actors and avoids unnecessary regulatory burdens that cost American seafood companies. Targeting vessels and owners while building upon government-to-government relationships is a strategy that address the challenge at its core.

Thank you to the committee for its work and Representatives Crenshaw, Begich, and Magaziner for introducing the bill. We look forward to working with Congress to see the FISH Act become law.

 

ThayerMahan reports successful anti-IUU fishing demonstration with NOAA Fisheries

April 3, 2026 — Maritime technology and surveillance company ThayerMahan reported a positive demonstration of its counter illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing solution with NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, validating its technologies for future use.

“This demonstration is important for our maritime national security, and the preservation of U.S. marine resources,” ThayerMahan Vice President Offshore Programs Greg Sabra said in a release. “We’ve proven to NOAA, the Coast Guard, and their partners that ThayerMahan’s advanced sensing and data flows give them a dependable, scalable, and repeatable way to observe protected waters and areas of interest, around the clock, with no crewed vessels or aircraft in the loop. This is how the United States can combat illicit actors at operational scale.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Bill to combat illegal foreign seafood harvest passes Senate

March 25, 2026 — Legislation to keep illegal foreign seafood from entering U.S. ports and waters has passed the U.S. Senate, and now awaits similar action on a companion bill before the U.S. House.

The Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act takes a strong stand against foreign illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by blacklisting offending vessels, bolstering the U.S. Coast guard’s enforcement capabilities and partnerships and advancing international and bilateral negotiations to achieve enforceable agreements and treaties.

Read the full article at The Cordova Times

US Senate passes FISH Act, again

March 23, 2026 — The U.S. Senate has once again voted to pass the Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act, legislation that would give the federal government more tools to crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing conducted by foreign fleets.

The FISH Act directs the U.S. government to create a blacklist of vessels banned from U.S. waters due to their participating in IUU fishing. The bill also supports increased at-sea inspections by the U.S. Coast Guard and requires a report on what technologies can be used to better combat IUU fishing.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

WTO hands out first tranche of grants to help developing countries meet terms of fishing subsidy deal

February 5, 2026 — A fund set up by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to help developing countries adapt to an agreement on curbing harmful fishing subsidies has handed out nearly USD 3 million (EUR 2.54 million) in its first tranche of grants.

The grants aim to help nations meet the stipulations of a deal originally signed by WTO members in 2022 to prohibit global subsidies that support vessels engaging in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities, fishing overfished stocks, and operating on the unregulated high seas.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US Senate committee advances Protecting Global Fisheries Act

February 2, 2026 — The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has advanced the Protecting Global Fisheries Act, legislation introduced last year to crack down on foreign illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Introduced by U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) and U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), the legislation would give the president the authority to impose sanctions on foreign persons or vessels that participate or enable IUU fishing.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US Congressional committee accuses China’s distant-water fishing fleet of intimidation, ecological destruction

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.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource