Gallagher, Bipartisan Lawmakers Urge NOAA to Crackdown on Illegal Chinese Fishing

WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, alongside a group of bipartisan lawmakers, wrote to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Richard Spinrad, urging him to take immediate action against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) Chinese fishing fleets that operate globally.

The letter was also signed by Rep. Rob Wittman, (R-VA), Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), Rep. Neil Dunn (R-FL) Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), and Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA).

China is the world's largest processor and exporter of seafood products to the United States. Operating with an estimated 17,000-vessel fleet, Chinese ships accounted for more than a third of all global deepwater fishing, where they bear responsibility for depleting a majority of fisheries off the coasts of South America and Africa.

NOAA's 2023 report on international fisheries revealed that Chinese IUU fishing imperiled the global ocean ecosystem and also identified widespread use of forced labor on deep water fishing fleets around the world.

In the letter, the lawmakers write, "Urgent action is needed. Past approaches to combatting IUU fishing by the PRC and efforts to stop forced labor have been insufficient, putting our fisherman and seafood producers at a competitive disadvantage, damaging marine ecosystems, and implicating U.S. consumers in forced labor."

After NOAA's determination of the environmental degradation and the extensive use of forced labor on Chinese fishing fleets, the lawmakers request that NOAA enact trade restrictions that bar tainted Chinese seafood products from entering the United States.

Click HERE to view a copy of the letter or read below.

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Dear Mr. Spinrad,

We are writing to urge you to take immediate action to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The widespread IUU fishing conducted by the PRC is alarming, as is the PRC’s unwillingness to take corrective action despite years of rampant violations and circumvention of international conservation and management measures.

On August 31, 2023, your agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued its 2023 Report to Congress on Improving International Fisheries Management, finding that the PRC had failed to take corrective actions to address U.S. concerns, resulting in the PRC receiving a negative certification determination.The report details how PRC vessels violated a wide range of international fishery conservation and management measures and failed to take appropriate corrective actions. In addition, the report finds that PRC-flagged fishing violated shark- and transshipment-related conservation measures.

We commend NMFS for including forced labor for the first time ever in its IUU fishing certification determination, but we are alarmed that the report concludes that the PRC’s distant water fishing fleet is “characterized by numerous reported incidents of forced labor” and that “the species and fisheries where forced labor is documented in the PRC’s distant water fleet is broad”, including tuna and squid that is imported to the United States. Most recently, in late 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued Withhold Release Orders (WRO) against PRC entity Dalian Ocean Fishing Co. Ltd. due to its egregious forced labor practices. These actions add to the growing body of reporting implicating the PRC’s fishing fleets in forced labor.

IUU fishing not only imperils sustainable fisheries and damages ocean ecosystems – it also threatens our economic security and puts our fishermen and seafood producers at a competitive disadvantage. As you know, the PRC is the world’s largest processor and exporter of seafood products and is one of the top exporters of seafood products to the United States, making U.S. consumers unwittingly complicit in the PRC’s IUU fishing practices and forced labor.

Under the Moratorium Protection Act, a negative certification determination will result not only in the denial of U.S. port privileges, but it can also result in trade sanctions. Under the Act, if consultations with the Department of Commerce are not satisfactorily concluded within 90 days, the Secretary of the Treasury can prohibit the importation into the United States of fish and fish products. It has been over a decade since the Moratorium Protection Act was passed into law and, despite the growing body of evidence implicating the PRC in violating the conditions of this act, no restrictions on the importation of PRC seafood products have been implemented. We request that NOAA strongly consider enforcing trade restrictions against the PRC on specific seafood products tainted by forced labor if the PRC continues to refuse taking corrective action within the 90 days after bilateral consultations begin.

Urgent action is needed. Past approaches to combatting IUU fishing by the PRC and efforts to stop forced labor have been insufficient, putting our fisherman and seafood producers at a competitive disadvantage, damaging marine ecosystems, and implicating U.S. consumers in forced labor.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. We look forward to your prompt response to this pressing issue.