Sec. 5. Statement of policy
528 words·~2 min read·
/bill/115/s/3400/is/section-5A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
It is the policy of the United States— to take immediate action to curtail the global trade in seafood and seafood products derived from IUU fishing, including its links to forced labor and transnational organized illegal activity; to ensure that countering IUU fishing is incorporated into the existing missions of the agencies involved in the working group established under section 201; to develop holistic diplomatic, military, development, and economic tools to counter IUU fishing; to provide technical and other forms of assistance to countries in priority regions and priority flag states to combat IUU fishing and seafood fraud, including assistance— to increase local, national, and regional level capacities to counter IUU fishing through the engagement of law enforcement and security forces; to enhance port capacity and security, including through support to implement the Port State Measures Agreement; to combat corruption and increase transparency and traceability in fisheries management and trade; to enhance information sharing within and across governments and multilateral organizations through the development and use of agreed standards for information sharing; and to support effective, science-based fisheries management regimes that promote legal and safe fisheries and act as a deterrent to IUU fishing; to promote global maritime security through improved capacity and technological assistance to support improved maritime domain awareness; to engage with priority flag states to encourage the use of vessel tracking systems, including vessel monitoring systems and AIS, at all times, as appropriate, on fishing vessels; to engage with multilateral organizations working on fisheries issues, including Regional Fisheries Management Organizations and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to combat and deter IUU fishing; to advance the use of common enterprise solutions and information sharing across governments and multilateral organizations through the development and use of an agreed standard for information sharing; to continue to use existing and future trade agreements to combat IUU fishing and seafood fraud, including through enhanced cooperation with trading partners of the United States and commitments to effectively enforce environmental and labor laws; to employ appropriate assets and resources of the United States Government in a coordinated manner to disrupt the illicit networks involved in IUU fishing; to continue the development of the Safe Ocean Network, which is an international effort of governments, industry, academia, and civil society to strengthen the capacity to combat illegal fishing, including detection, enforcement, and prosecution; to continue to declassify and make available, as appropriate and practicable, technologies developed by the United States Government that can be used by private companies, nongovernmental organizations, other governments, and other entities to help counter IUU fishing; to recognize the ties of IUU fishing to transnational organized illegal activity, including human trafficking and illegal trade in narcotics and arms, and as applicable, to focus on illicit activity in a coordinated, cross-cutting manner; to recognize and respond to poor working conditions, labor abuses, and other violent crimes in the fishing industry; to increase and improve global transparency and traceability along the seafood supply chain as— a deterrent to IUU fishing and seafood fraud; and an approach for strengthening fisheries management and food security; and to educate the American public on the local and global impacts of IUU fishing.