Green Lodging News has reported on illegal fishing and overfishing in the past—in fact as recently as this past October. It is important that every buyer of fish be aware of the problems as well as the certifications that ensure properly caught fish.
Just yesterday, Oceana released a new report showing that the illegal seafood trade, fueled in part by U.S. demand, is hurting local fishing communities around the world. Oceana says this demonstrates the need to expand traceability and transparency requirements for all seafood imports. The United States is the world’s largest seafood importing country, yet around 60 percent of imported seafood products are not covered by the U.S. Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), which requires catch documentation and traceability requirements for some imports. Currently, the program only applies to 13 species and species groups at risk of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and seafood fraud.
According to Oceana, the United States imported an estimated $2.4 billion worth of seafood derived from IUU fishing in 2019 alone. The United States’ high demand for seafood combined with SIMP’s limitations allow seafood sourced from illegal activity to flood the U.S. market, driving economic and ecological loss around the world. In the report, Oceana highlights four examples of seafood entering the United States that are not covered by SIMP and are potentially sourced from the illegal seafood trade, which threatens fishing communities and jeopardizes ocean health. Oceana is calling on President Biden to expand SIMP to include all imported seafood and implement traceability from net to plate.
SIMP was created in 2016 to address IUU fishing and seafood fraud among seafood imports, but the program only requires catch documentation and traceability for 13 types of imported seafood, or about 40 percent of U.S. seafood imports. Additionally, the program only requires traceability from the boat or farm to the U.S. border—not all the way to the consumers’ plate. In 2019, Oceana released the results of a seafood fraud investigation, testing popular seafood not covered by SIMP, and found that 1 in every 5 fish tested nationwide was mislabeled, demonstrating that seafood fraud is still pervasive in the United States. Seafood fraud and IUU fishing ultimately hurt honest fishers and seafood businesses that play by the rules, mask conservation and health risks of certain species, and cheat consumers who fall victim to a bait-and-switch.
In the United States, up to 85 percent of the fish we consume is imported. A report by the International Trade Commission found that the United States imported $2.4 billion worth of seafood derived from illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in 2019. IUU fishing can include fishing without authorization, ignoring catch limits, operating in closed areas, targeting protected wildlife, and fishing with prohibited gear. These illicit activities can destroy important habitats, severely deplete fish populations, and threaten global food security. For illegal fishers, IUU fishing is a low-risk, high-reward activity, especially on the high seas where a fragmented legal framework and lack of effective enforcement allow it to thrive.
In January 2021, Oceana released the results of a nationwide poll finding that Americans overwhelmingly support policies to end illegal fishing and seafood fraud. Included among the key findings, 89 percent of voters agree that imported seafood should be held to the same standards as U.S. caught seafood. Additionally, 81 percent of voters say they support policies that prevent seafood from being sold in the United States that was caught using human trafficking and slave labor. Eighty-three percent of voters agree that all seafood should be traceable from the fishing boat to the dinner plate, and 77 percent support requirements for all fishing vessels to be publicly trackable. The findings show widespread bipartisan support for policies aimed at increasing transparency and seafood traceability.
