US President Joe Biden issued a important memo this week to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and associated labor abuses.
The national safety memorandum — which coincides with the United Countries Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal — calls for a inappropriate-company solution to sort out IUU fishing, compelled labor, and loads of human rights abuses within the seafood provide chain:
“Left unchecked, IUU fishing and associated labor abuses undermine U.S. economic competitiveness, national safety, fishery sustainability, and the livelihoods and human rights of fishers spherical the sphere and ought to exacerbate the environmental and socioeconomic outcomes of climate substitute.”
The memorandum directs government agencies to “employ the stout differ of gift conservation, labor, alternate, economic, diplomatic, law enforcement, and national safety authorities” to take care of the difficulty of IUU fishing and associated labor abuses.
In the United States, as much as 85% of the fish consumed is imported. A March 2021 file by the World Alternate Commission found that the United States imported $2.4 billion worth of seafood derived from IUU fishing in 2019.
Biden’s circulate used to be welcomed — with caveats — by Beth Lowell from Oceana, who in a press unlock said:
“President Biden is taking steps ahead within the war towards illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and the associated labor abuses. This memorandum signifies proper growth in pulling together the stout force of the U.S. government within the war towards IUU fishing, compelled labor, and loads of human rights abuses, nonetheless more mild wants to be accomplished. The memorandum directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to enhance the Seafood Import Monitoring Program to comprise some further species, nonetheless it falls short from requiring the program to apply to all seafood imports, which is wanted to stopping illegal merchandise from coming into the U.S. market. Till the US holds all seafood imports to the an identical requirements as U.S.-caught fish, illegally sourced seafood will proceed to be sold alongside accurate sort take. Oceana looks ahead to working with the Biden administration to put into effect this memorandum and constructing upon the growth announced this day.”
Examine out Biden’s stout memo at whitehouse.gov.
John Lianghttps://www.deeperblue.com/
John Liang is the News Editor at DeeperBlue.com. He first received the diving worm while in Excessive College in Cairo, Egypt, where he earned his PADI Initiate Water Diver certification within the Red Sea off the Sinai Peninsula. Since then, John has dived in a volcanic lake in Guatemala, among white-tipped sharks off the Pacific Soar of Costa Rica, and loads of locations at the side of a pool in Las Vegas helping to break the sphere file for the very best underwater press convention.