US President Barack Obama is enhancing the tools available to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and seafood fraud in the United States.
“The United States is a global leader in sustainable seafood,” said President Obama in a recent memorandum. “Over the course of the last six years, the United States has largely ended overfishing in federally managed water and successfully rebuilt a record number of stocks. Nevertheless, IUU fishing continues to undermine the economic and environmental sustainability of fisheries and fish stocks, both in the US and worldwide.”
Global loses attributable to the black market from IUU fishing are said to be US$10-23bn annually, weakening profitability for legally caught seafood, fuelling illegal trafficking operations and undermining economic opportunity for legitimate fishermen in the United States and around the world.
In a bid to tackle this, the United States is implementing the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing.
It will also strengthen the coordination and implementation of existing authorities to combat IUU fishing and seafood fraud, while it will work with foreign partners to develop and implement new and existing measures, such as voluntary and traceability programmes to ensure accurate labelling for consumers.
It is hoped the United States management scheme will be recognised internationally as a successful way to end overfishing.
