Tag: fishing

Blocking Seafood Imports Produced By Forced Labor Gets Prioritized
17Jul By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
Fishermen's News Online, News

Blocking Seafood Imports Produced By Forced Labor Gets Prioritized

Homeland Security officials have declared efforts to block seafood produced by forced labor overseas from entering the United States a top priority, in part by requiring better documentation from seafood supply chains. 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 (UFLPA). That legislation 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 statement came amid extensive reports of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and forced labor by Chinese-flagged vessels and in Chinese-based seafood pro...
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NOAA Fisheries: More Than Half of Seafood Import Entry Filings Noncompliant
5Jun By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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NOAA Fisheries: More Than Half of Seafood Import Entry Filings Noncompliant

A new NOAA Fisheries report to Congress on combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing finds that about 56% of audited import entry filings are noncompliant, mostly for incomplete chain of custody and misreporting of harvest weight. The volume and value of seafood species subject to the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) during fiscal year 2023 included over 1.7 billion pounds of seafood with a combined value of more than $6.4 billion in U.S. dollars. NOAA announced delivery of the report on May 31. The SIMP imports represented about 32% by volume and 30% by value of all seafood imports into the United States last year. The decrease in imports subject to SIMP reporting requirements is reflective of the overall decline in imports observed over the past fi...
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Alaska Legislature Approves Task Force to Help Commercial Fishing Industry
15May By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Alaska Legislature Approves Task Force to Help Commercial Fishing Industry

Alaska legislators on May 12 approved the creation of a task force to make policy recommendations to help the state’s struggling commercial fishing industry. It is to be modeled after another legislative task force created over 20 years ago to help the salmon industry at a time when harvesters were facing the impact of low prices and competition from farmed fish. The resolution by the House Special Committee on Fisheries, and sponsored by the Alaska Senate Finance Committee, acknowledges the economic distress for harvesters in danger of being without markets and the number of seafood processing facilities for sale, closing or planning to shut down for a portion, or all of, the 2024 fishing season. The task force is to be composed of eight members, with the state senate preside...
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NOAA Report Cites IUU, Forced Labor, Shark Catch Issues
6Sep By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
Fishermen's News Online, News

NOAA Report Cites IUU, Forced Labor, Shark Catch Issues

NOAA’s 2023 Report to Congress on Improving International Fisheries Management identifies seven nations and entities engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), including incidents involving force labor and targeted or incidental shark catches. The report, released Aug. 31, said the U.S. will work with identified parties to address IUU issues and forced labor activities and support effective management of protected species and shark catch. “IUU fishing and other unsustainable fishing practices undermine U.S. and global efforts to sustainably manage fisheries and conserve marine resources,” Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, said. “Combating these practices is a top priority of the United States, and we’ll work with each identified nation and ent...
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