Chefs Call on Congress to End Illegal Fishing, Seafood Fraud, and Human Rights Abuses

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A bunch of cooks and restaurant house owners absorb signed a letter to the U.S. Congress stressful transparency and traceability in the U.S. seafood provide chain.

Extra than 200 cooks and restaurant house owners are calling on lawmakers to tackle illegal fishing, seafood fraud, and human rights abuses in the seafood change.

Namely, the cooks are stressful elevated traceability of seafood imports and transparency at sea to make certain every seafood served in the United States is protected, legally caught, responsibly sourced, and honestly labeled.

The letter, which is signed by top cooks corresponding to Dan Barber, Tom Colicchio, Bun Lai, Rick Moonen, Jacques Pepin, Virginia Willis, and entails 45 cooks from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Gaze Blue Ribbon Job Force on sustainable seafood, outlines the need for Congress to require traceability for all seafood supplied in the United States.

In the letter, the cooks write:

“We are a coalition of cooks that collectively support seafood to hundreds and hundreds of potentialities per year. We elevate satisfaction in feeding our communities essentially the most animated-advantageous seafood that’s now now not most animated scrumptious but additionally harvested ethically with minimal environmental value. We are committed to serving dishes which would be horny for both folk and the planet. Therefore, we call on Congress to crack down on illegal fishing and connected compelled labor abuses.”

Jacques Pepin, world-smartly-known chef and cooking exhibit host, author, teacher and artist talked about:

“There ought to be no quiz from cooks or seafood eaters — seafood supplied in the U.S. ought to be protected, legally caught, responsibly sourced, and honestly labeled, and the manager need to step up and beget it so.”

While Tom Colicchio, movie enormous establish chef and founder of Crafted Hospitality, talked about:

“After I support seafood to my potentialities, I need them to be assured that it became caught legally and that everyone enthusiastic in its take dangle of and manufacturing became handled humanely. Correct now, that’s all but now now not doable. It doesn’t absorb to be this blueprint for the rationale that U.S. executive can step up efforts to wreck illegal fishing and require that seafood team are handled with the admire and dignity they deserve.”

This previous Could well, Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Garret Graves (R-La.) presented the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act, a bill that may per chance wreck illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, seafood fraud, and human rights abuses in the seafood change while strengthening U.S. management on concerns that threaten the oceans, consumers, and human rights.

The bill, which currently handed out of the Home Committee on Natural Sources, would provide consumers with extra info about the seafood they eat, require fish to be tracked from boat to plate, beget bigger vessel transparency, wreck illegally caught and sourced seafood from entering the United States, and encourage wreck compelled labor at sea. Additionally, the bill would allow the USA to elevate stronger action in opposition to worldwide locations that fail to tackle IUU fishing and human rights abuses in the seafood sector.

In accordance to chef and James Beard award-winning cookbook author Virginia Willis:

“As a chef and sustainable seafood imply, I strongly toughen the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act. This critical legislation aims to enhance seafood traceability; fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; and curb the labor abuses of human trafficking, compelled labor, and shrimp one labor in the US seafood provide chain. Our seafood choices topic and impact now now not most animated the health of the ocean, but additionally very precise human lives.”

For these who’re a chef (or know one), that you simply may per chance be ready to be half of the choice for seafood traceability and transparency at sea by signing on here.