[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 92 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 92
Expressing concern that illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing
threatens security, prosperity, and biodiversity in Latin America and
the Caribbean and facilitates human trafficking, including forced
labor, and other inhumane and criminal practices in the region.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 2, 2023
Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Risch, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Rubio, and Mr.
Kaine) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing concern that illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing
threatens security, prosperity, and biodiversity in Latin America and
the Caribbean and facilitates human trafficking, including forced
labor, and other inhumane and criminal practices in the region.
Whereas illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (referred to in this
preamble as ``IUU fishing''), which are defined in paragraphs 3.1, 3.2,
and 3.3 of the 2001 Food and Agriculture Organization International Plan
of Action to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported, and
Unregulated Fishing, includes fishing activities that--
(1) are in violation of applicable national, regional, or international
laws, regulations, or obligations;
(2) are not reported or misreported to relevant authorities; and
(3) occur in areas or for fishing stocks for which there are no
applicable conservation or management measures;
Whereas in 2020, the United States Coast Guard declared that IUU fishing has
replaced piracy as the leading global maritime security threat;
Whereas the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has expressed serious
concerns about the fishing industry's vulnerability to several forms of
transnational organized crime, including trafficking in persons, money
laundering, and smuggling of drugs and weapons, which are often linked
to IUU fishing;
Whereas, according to the International Labor Organization's 2022 Global
Estimates of Modern Slavery, approximately 128,000 fishers are subjected
to forced labor aboard fishing vessels around the world in conditions
characterized by extreme isolation, hazardous working and living
conditions, and gaps in regulatory oversight, and IUU fishing is closely
linked to these and other forms of human trafficking;
Whereas IUU fishing threatens biodiversity and marine ecosystems, increases the
risk of food insecurity, and creates unfair competition in the
marketplace for lawful seafood industries;
Whereas approximately 600,000,000 people worldwide are partially dependent on
fisheries and aquaculture for their lives and livelihoods, and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that IUU fishing
deprives law-abiding fishermen and coastal communities of up to
$23,000,000,000 in seafood products annually;
Whereas, according to the United States Government's Global Food Security
Strategy, the percentage of stocks fished at biologically unsustainable
levels increased from 10 percent in 1974 to 34.2 percent in 2017, with
IUU fishing being a key factor affecting the sustainability of
fisheries;
Whereas, according to a 2017 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations--
(1) IUU fishing off of South America's Southeast Pacific coast and
Southwest Atlantic Oceans contributes to the second highest proportions of
biologically unsustainable fishing stock levels in the world; and
(2) transformative changes are needed to address growing threats to
sustainable fisheries and food security globally;
Whereas large-scale operations of distant-water fishing fleets, particularly
such fleets that are provided with billions of dollars in subsidies
annually by the People's Republic of China, are primarily responsible
for IUU fishing along the Pacific Coast of South America and the
Southwest Atlantic Ocean, while small-scale artisanal fleets are
primarily responsible for IUU fishing in the Caribbean, Mexico, and
Central America;
Whereas Chinese industrial fishing in the South Pacific coast of South America
increased 13-fold between 2009 and 2020, contributing to a significant
rise in IUU fishing in that region;
Whereas, between July and August 2020, 350 Chinese distant-water fishing vessels
disabled required tracking systems and engaged in 73,000 hours of
fishing off the exclusive economic zone of the Galapagos archipelago,
which is a United Nations World Heritage Site;
Whereas, in November 2020, the Governments of Ecuador, of Chile, of Colombia,
and of Peru--
(1) jointly condemned IUU fishing perpetrated by large fleets of
foreign vessels; and
(2) pledged to increase cooperation through regulatory bodies, such as
the Permanent Commission for the South Pacific;
Whereas the United States, Canada, and 12 countries in Latin America and the
Caribbean are parties to the Agreement on Port State Measures to
Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated
Fishing, Agreement, done at Rome November 22, 2009 (commonly known as
the ``Port State Measures Agreement''), which was facilitated by the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and entered into force
in June 2016, setting standards for the reporting and inspection of
fishing activities of foreign-flagged vessels at port;
Whereas governments in Latin America and the Caribbean often lack the capacity
to effectively monitor and prosecute IUU fishing, with many countries in
the region investing less than 10 percent of their fisheries budgets on
monitoring and surveillance;
Whereas regional fisheries management organizations, such as the South Pacific
Regional Fisheries Management Organization and the Caribbean Regional
Fisheries Mechanism, establish conservation and management standards,
but face difficulties in enforcing such standards and executing
coordinated action to counter IUU fishing;
Whereas Uruguay is seeking to advance the creation of a regional fisheries
management organization with Brazil and Argentina to combat IUU fishing
in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean, which is the only sea area in the world
without a fisheries management government structure;
Whereas the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which was approved by
Congress under section 101(a)(1) of the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 4511(a))--
(1) prohibits subsidies for vessels or operators involved in IUU
fishing;
(2) requires customs inspections for shipments at ports of entry;
(3) prohibits the importation of goods made by forced labor; and
(4) requires efforts to seek the elimination of forced labor;
Whereas similar provisions related to IUU fishing have not been enshrined in
other free trade agreements in North America;
Whereas, at the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in
June 2022, member states reached a multilateral agreement to prohibit
certain harmful subsidies for fishing activities that threaten the
sustainable use and conservation of marine resources, including
subsidies to vessels engaged in IUU fishing;
Whereas, the Maritime SAFE Act (subtitle C of title XXXV of Public Law 116-92)
established an interagency working group to develop a 5-year strategic
plan to counter IUU fishing, which was released in October 2022, and has
identified--
(1) Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Mexico, Panama, and Peru as Tier I priority regions at risk for
IUU fishing; and
(2) the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean as Tier II priority
regions at risk for IUU fishing; and
Whereas the United States Government has undertaken several initiatives to
counter IUU fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean, including--
(1) conducting joint cooperation exercises in January 2021 involving
the United States Southern Command, the United States Coast Guard, and
partners in Brazil, Guyana, Portugal, and Uruguay;
(2) certifying countries based on their actions to curb the flow of IUU
fishing through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
including issuing a negative certification in August 2021 for Mexico and a
positive certification for Ecuador;
(3) issuing National Security Memorandum 11 on June 27, 2022, which
directs Federal executive departments and agencies to coordinate with each
other, foreign governments, multilateral organizations, and other public
and private stakeholders to combat labor abuses and other crimes associated
with IUU fishing;
(4) carrying out the first United States Coast Guard IUU fishing patrol
under the auspices of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management
Organization, in August 2022 off the exclusive economic zone of the
Galapagos archipelago, during which the Coast Guard conducted high seas
boardings and inspections of vessels suspected of engaging in IUU fishing;
(5) issuing sanctions on December 9, 2022, against entities based in
the People's Republic of China that are implicated in global activities
related to IUU fishing, including activities in Latin America and the
Caribbean; and
(6) proposing that Chinese flagged vessels suspected of engaging in IUU
fishing that refuse to allow on sea boarding and inspection be included in
the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management organization's IUU vessel
list: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) underscores the urgency of combating IUU fishing and
its associated crimes, including human trafficking, and
protecting oceanic biodiversity, the livelihoods of coastal
communities, regional licit economies, human rights, and
hemispheric security from the People's Republic of China, other
extra-regional actors, and transnational criminal organizations
engaged in IUU fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean;
(2) calls on the United States Government and governments
in Latin America and the Caribbean to incorporate concerns
regarding human trafficking and violations of labor rights,
when determining whether activities qualify as IUU fishing;
(3) encourages greater coordination among the Governments
of Latin America and of the Caribbean to facilitate information
sharing and law enforcement responses to IUU fishing, including
by acceding to the Port State Measures Agreement, strengthening
existing regional fisheries management organizations, and
creating a regional fisheries management organization for the
Southwest Atlantic Ocean;
(4) encourages the Office of the United States Trade
Representative, in coordination with the Department of State,
to consider the implementation of IUU fishing provisions within
current and future free trade agreements with countries of
Latin America and the Caribbean to enhance accountability over
such activities; and
(5) calls on the Secretary of State, in coordination with
the Administrator of the United States Agency for International
Development and the heads of other relevant Federal departments
and agencies, to counter IUU fishing by--
(A) undertaking public education initiatives in
Latin America and the Caribbean to elevate awareness of
the harms caused by IUU fishing and its associated
crimes;
(B) assisting with the monitoring and dissemination
of information regarding the activities of Chinese and
other distant-water fishing fleets, and using
multilateral fora, including regional fisheries
management organizations, to address such concerns;
(C) limiting the importation and consumption of
fish and seafood caught by IUU actors, and use the
United States role and influence in global markets to
drive change in global seafood supply chains;
(D) using sanctions and visa restriction
authorities to hold accountable entities that are
credibly suspected of engaging in IUU fishing,
including--
(i) distant water fishing fleets from the
People's Republic of China;
(ii) other extra-regional actors; and
(iii) transnational criminal organizations;
and
(E) utilizing available resources to support and
assist the Office of the United States Trade
Representative in reaching a final multilateral
agreement under the World Trade Organization that--
(i) addresses the use of forced labor on
IUU fishing vessels;
(ii) strengthens relevant reporting
requirements; and
(iii) addresses harmful subsidies that
contribute to fishing fleet overcapacity.
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