March 13, 2026 — At the 14th Meeting of the South Pacific Regional Fishery Management Organisation (SPRFMO), the United States took action to protect American consumers and the U.S. fishing industry. We advanced sustainable management and ensured compliance in fisheries that export fish to the United States, which is a priority for this Administration and NOAA.
Squid Management
The meeting was held February 24–March 6, 2026 in Panama City, Panama. The United States led the effort to control effort in the jumbo flying squid fishery through adoption of a conservation and management measure. It included a U.S.-proposed 15 percent reduction in the number and size of the vessels allowed to participate in the fishery. The high seas squid fishery in the SPRFMO Convention Area has been the subject of significant allegations of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and uncontrolled expansion. There are also concerns about labor abuses, particularly onboard Chinese-flagged vessels. The Chinese squid jigging fleet is the largest in the Convention Area, with more that 57 percent of the authorized squid jigging vessels flagged to China.
“The work of this Commission is critical to addressing the widespread concerns about illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in the squid fishery off the west coast of South America, and the United States has been leading the charge to advance these efforts,” noted Eugenio Piñiero-Soler, NOAA Assistant Administrator. From 2022–2024, the United States imported almost 40.5 billion kilograms of squid, valued at more than $215 billion, from China alone.