Homeland Security officials have declared a top priority their efforts to block seafood produced by forced labor overseas from entering the U.S., in part by requiring better documentation from seafood supply chins.
The July 9 announcement from the Department of Homeland Security added seafood to its list of high-priority sectors in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which is legislation that directs the agency’s Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force to block import into the United States from Chinese forced labor in the Republic of China, especially from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or Xinjiang.
The announcement came amid extensive reports of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and forced labor by Chinese-flagged vessels and in Chinese-based seafood processing plants.
The conservation entity Oceana applauded the move, noting that IUU fishing is harmful to the health of the ocean and ocean life and that IUU fishing is explicitly linked to forced labor and human rights abuses.
Max Valentine, the campaign director for Oceana’s illegal fishing and transparency campaign, urged the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to expand the 2016 Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) to all imported species. SIMP currently applies to just 13 types of imported seafood, and only traces them from the boat to the U.S. border, Oceana officials said.
NOAA Fisheries officials said they recognize the need to ensure that workers across the supply chain have access to legal, safe and healthy working conditions.
The international framework to promote legal and safe conditions in the seafood industry is supported by the International Labor Organization, the International Maritime Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization.