Over 200 chefs, authors, and restaurateurs from 43 states are asking the United States Congress to crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
IUU fishing is placing the world’s ocean, fisheries, and human lives under threat. IUU fishing includes ignoring fishing laws and regulations, using prohibited gear, and is often accompanied by labour and human rights violations.
The US is the world’s largest seafood importer by value, but as much as 32% of imports sold in the US are harvested through illegal or unreported fishing practices. This problem impacts people on all levels of the supply chain, from fishers to chefs to consumers.
Earlier this year, Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Representative Garret Graves (R-LA) introduced the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act (H.R. 3075), to curb IUU fishing and its corresponding human rights abuses. This bill would expand the Seafood Import Monitoring Program to all species, improve detection of imports at risk of IUU fishing and labor violations, establish seafood traceability requirements throughout the entire seafood supply chain, and make anti-forced labour laws more enforceable for seafood.
Read more:
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/chris-clark/chefs-urge-congress-end-illegal-fishing-labor-violations