[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 40 (Thursday, March 2, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S638-S639]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 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

  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:

                               S. Res. 92

       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

[[Page S639]]

       (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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