Washington, D.C. – Today, President Obama’s Task Force on Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud announced new recommendations to combat practices that harm American fishermen. The recommendations include strengthening enforcement tools to combat IUU fishing and seafood fraud, and creating a tracking program to ensure that illegal seafood products are kept out of the U.S. supply chain.
With the Task Force now seeking public comments on its recommendations, the U.S. Senate Oceans Caucus is urging U.S. fishermen, processors, importers and other interested parties to make their voices heard. The Caucus’s lead co-chairs, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), released the statement below:
“Pirate fishing, seafood fraud, and other illegal practices put American fishermen and seafood dealers who are playing by the rules at a disadvantage. We are encouraged that the President’s Task Force is taking these threats seriously, and we urge fishermen, seafood purveyors, and other interested parties to carefully examine the recommendations and submit comments. We hope that, with the input of the fishing and seafood community, these recommendations will lead to actions that protect American jobs in the fishing and seafood industries, protect American consumers, and help end illegal fishing worldwide.”
The recommendations are available online here. People interested in submitting comments will be able to do so here after Thursday. Written comments can be mailed to Carrie Selberg, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910.
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