Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (in this Act referred to as IUU ) fishing off Africa’s coasts undermines regional fisheries management and international agreements aimed at curbing IUU fishing activities and is a threat to the food and economic stability of coastal African countries. Reports estimate that Illicit Financial Flows linked to IUU fishing leads to an economic loss of up to $11,490,000,000 per year for Africa. The Financial Transparency Coalition, in a joint report with several other organizations, reported in 2022 that 48.9 percent of all industrial and semi-industrial vessels identified as being involved in global IUU fishing were found to be operating off of Africa’s coasts, with 40 percent in West Africa alone.
The People’s Republic of China (in this Act referred to as the PRC ) is the largest exploiter of global marine fisheries, has the largest distant-water fleet in the world and 8 of the 10 companies most responsible for IUU fishing are based in China. IUU fishing often occurs in conjunction with violations of internationally recognized worker rights, forced labor, and other human rights abuses. In a June 27, 2022, national security memorandum the White House stated that left unchecked, IUU fishing and associated labor abuses undermine United States economic competitiveness, national security, fishery sustainability, and the livelihoods and human rights of fishers around the world .
In 2019, Congress passed the Maritime Security and Fisheries Enforcement Act ( Public Law 116–92 ) to support a whole-of-government approach across the Federal Government to counter IUU fishing and related threats to maritime security. Efforts to combat IUU fishing benefit from strategies that also target the associated maritime labor abuses like violations of internationally recognized worker rights and forced labor. The 2022 National 5-Year Strategy for Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing identified the Gulf of Guinea as a Tier One Priority Region , Northwest Africa (Atlantic Ocean) and East Africa as a Tier Two Priority Region , and Senegal as a Priority Flag State , the only country in Africa to be selected for that status.
In 2020, the Coast Guard called IUU fishing the leading global maritime security threat in its Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Strategic Outlook. In 2023, there were zero Coast Guard attachés or liaisons deployed in Africa.
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Sec. 2
Findings
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