Saving Seafood

Canada-led patrol of North Pacific uncovers 39 potential incidents of IUU

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.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Inspector general says Coast Guard misses illegal fishing in US waters

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.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Inspector general reports US Coast Guard is not prioritizing IUU fishing enforcement

June 23, 2025 — A recent report by an internal U.S. government watchdog found that the U.S. Coast Guard is not prioritizing the prevention of illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing, leading it to miss its interdiction goals for the last two years.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Inspector General, the Coast Guard devoted just 4 percent of its mission hours to tackling IUU fishing in 2023 and 2024. While setting a goal of interdicting 40 percent of foreign fishing vessels illegally operating in U.S. waters, the Coast Guard only interdicted 21 percent of those vessels.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US senators lambast IUU fishing and abuse in foreign fleets during hearing

June 18, 2025 — U.S. senators used a subcommittee hearing to heavily criticize illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing practices – an activity they claimed reduces revenue for America’s seafood sector and poses a direct national security threat to the country.

“It is estimated that IUU fishing accounts for up to 20 percent of the global catch, which translates to global losses between USD 10 billion and USD 50 billion [EUR 8.7 billion to EUR 43.4 billion] annually for fishing fleets that actually fish legally like ours in America,” U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said in the recent Senate Subcommittee on Coast Guard, Maritime, and Fisheries hearing.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US lawmakers push to condemn use of flags of convenience

June 6, 2025 — U.S. lawmakers in Congress have proposed a resolution condemning the use of flags of convenience, a practice where owners register their vessels in nations with lower standards and weaker regulatory enforcement to avoid taxes and regulations in their home nation.

Introduced by U.S. Representative James Moylan (R-Guam) and U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii), the resolution “condemns the international use of flag of convenience to avoid tariffs, sanctions, workplace rights, and basic safety standards, as well as supporting criminal opportunity, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and terrorist operations.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

FAO, GFCM celebrate work done to combat IUU fishing over the last decade

June 6, 2025 — The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) have come together to celebrate the International Day for the Fight Against Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing on 5 June.

The date was chosen in 2015 to mark the entry into force of the Port State Measures Agreement, the first binding international agreement which sought to address IUU fishing and which has been ratified by more than 50 nations and the European Union. Most recently, China signed the agreement.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

China Dominates ‘Dark’ Network Behind Global Fishing Crisis

June 4, 2025 — A new report exposes the sophisticated networks propping up Chinese squid fleets accused of illegal fishing off South America.

These activities—often carried out with Automatic Identification System (AIS) trackers turned off, or “dark”—are undercutting local fishers who depend on regional marine resources for their livelihoods, according to Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit C4ADS.

Illegal, Unreported And Unregulated

The rising demand for seafood and dwindling local stocks have pushed fishing fleets farther from home. The vessels now operate in international waters for months—even years—at a time, virtually unmonitored, increasing the risk of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and labor abuses.

China and Taiwan account for about 60 percent of distant-water fishing, and Chinese vessels in particular have faced growing scrutiny for allegedly operating illegally within South American exclusive economic zones, prompting rising grassroots pressure to tighten enforcement and close regulatory loopholes.

What To Know

The abundant stocks of jumbo flying squid and Argentine shortfin squid have attracted distant-water fishing fleets to the coasts of South America.

A report released Tuesday by the C4Dfound that 69 percent of squid jiggers operating off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts share ownership with ships allegedly involved in illicit activities, or vessels of concern.

While these operations are theoretically under the oversight of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO), enforcement is often spotty. The situation is even more tenuous on the Atlantic coast, which lacks a comparable fisheries management framework.

Read the full article at Newsweek

Cassidy, Colleagues Introduce Bill to Combat Foreign Illegal Fishing

April 9, 2025 — The following was released by Bill Cassidy:

U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), John Curtis (R-UT), and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced the Protecting Global Fisheries Actto combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Predatory IUU fishing, particularly by China, disrupts international trade and undermines maritime security, marine ecosystems, and food and economic security. It often involves forced labor, human trafficking, unsafe working conditions, and other human rights abuses. IUU fishing directly harms the United States—a major harvester, importer, and consumer of seafood—by creating unfair competition for fishermen who abide by international fishing laws.

“Louisiana produces the best seafood in the world. Competitors abroad outprice us with illegal practices. It hurts our jobs, economy, and national security. Let’s protect our way of life,” said Dr. Cassidy. 

The Protecting Global Fisheries Act would:

  • Authorize the President to impose visa, asset, and financial sanctions on foreign persons or foreign vessels found responsible or complicit in IUU fishing and the sale, supply, purchase, or transfer of endangered species.
  • Require the U.S. Departments of State and U.S. Defense to regularly provide briefings to Congress on efforts and strategies to combat IUU fishing.
  • Assert that the United States will prioritize countering IUU fishing in collaboration with friendly countries and via international forums.

Background

IUU fishing violates national and international fishing laws, including fishing without a license for certain species, failing to report catches or making false reports, using prohibited fishing gear, or conducting unauthorized transfers of fish to cargo vessels. It has become a particular challenge in the Western Hemisphere, costing nearly $2.7 billion in lost revenue annually and making up more than 20 percent of all catches in Latin America. The increasing presence of illegal Chinese fishing vessels has significantly contributed to the rise in IUU fishing in the hemisphere and around the world.

 

NOAA Fisheries’ plan to expand Seafood Import Monitoring Program still leaves questions

March 19, 2025 — As it approaches a decade in force, the overall impact of Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) on defeating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing – and how its new update to cover all species will help – remains unclear.

It has been eight years since NOAA Fisheries first created SIMP under the administration of then-U.S. President Barack Obama, and the agency has now decided it needs an update.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource