Biden moves on IUU fishing

With the White House acknowledging that IUU fishing is among the greatest threats to ocean health and is a significant cause of global overfishing, it confirmed the Biden Administration intends to tackle IUU fishing by increasing its coordination with public and private, foreign and domestic stakeholders.

It said the US government will use the full range of existing conservation, labour, trade, economic, diplomatic, law enforcement, and national security authorities to address these challenges, including:

• Promoting labour rights, human rights, and fundamental freedoms through worker-centred trade policies and working to ensure that supply chains are free from forced labour
• Collaborating within international organisations, including regional bodies, and partnering with stakeholders from governments, civil society, and the private sector, to increase global attention on the challenges of IUU fishing, including by distant water fishing vessels, and related abusive labour practices, such as the use of forced labour in seafood supply chains
• Combatting abuses and strengthening incentives for ethical behaviour in the global seafood industry, including by limiting the market for products derived from IUU fishing, forced labour, or other abusive labour practices.

The White House also confirmed that the Biden-Harris Administration is also taking the following actions to combat IUU fishing, which will be announced throughout the UN Ocean Conference:

• The US, UK and Canada will launch an IUU Fishing Action Alliance aimed at increasing ambition and momentum in the fight against IUU fishing, including a pledge to take urgent action to improve the monitoring, control, and surveillance of fisheries, increase transparency in fishing fleets and in the seafood market, and build new partnerships that will hold bad actors accountable
• The US Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing, comprising 21 federal agencies, will release its ‘National Five-Year Strategy for Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing (2022-2026)’ by the end of July. This strategy prioritises the working group’s efforts to combat IUU fishing, curtail the global trade of IUU fish and fish products, and promote global maritime security, while working in partnership with other governments and authorities, the seafood industry, academia, and non-governmental stakeholders. The US will also engage with priority partners, including Ecuador, Panama, Senegal, Taiwan and Vietnam
• NOAA will also issue a proposed rule to enhance and strengthen its ability to address IUU fishing activities and combat forced labour in the seafood supply chain. Specifically, the rule will enhance NOAA’s ability to implement the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing and the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act. The rule proposes to broaden the scope of activities that NOAA can consider when identifying nations that engage in IUU fishing to include fishing in waters under the jurisdiction of a nation, without the permission of that nation, or in violation of its laws and regulations. This will be consistent with the FAO’s ‘International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing’

The White House said these new actions build on President Biden’s proclamation declaring June as National Ocean Month and key announcements that it made earlier this month to conserve and restore the health and productivity of the ocean for the benefit of all Americans.

These announcements included initiating the designation process for a new national marine sanctuary to conserve Hudson Canyon in the Atlantic Ocean, a phase out of the sale of single-use plastics in national parks and public lands, the launch of efforts to create America’s first-ever Ocean Climate Action Plan, and the launch of an initiative to centre environmental justice in ocean science and technology activities and investments.