Sponsors (6)
Introduced April 9, 2025 by Timothy Michael Kaine · Last progress April 9, 2025
The bill strengthens U.S. tools to detect and punish IUU fishing—potentially protecting fisheries, coastal livelihoods, and national security—but does so at the cost of higher compliance and enforcement burdens, legal risks for U.S. actors, increased federal obligations, and a risk of diplomatic friction (notably with the PRC).
Coastal and fishing communities, U.S. agencies, and consumers: strengthens U.S. ability to detect, interdict, and financially block illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and related wildlife trafficking through diplomatic pressure, multilateral cooperation, maritime monitoring technology promotion, asset-blocking authorities, and visa restrictions.
Small businesses, coastal livelihoods, and regional seafood industries: enables coordinated international action and targeted accountability (including sanctions and multilateral measures) that can reduce illegal catches and help protect fisheries, local jobs, and seafood supply chains.
Policymakers, federal agencies, businesses, and immigrants: clarifies key legal terms and standards (imports INA definitions, defines 'United States person'/'foreign person', and adopts the FAO IUU definition) and specifies appropriate congressional committees, reducing ambiguity in enforcement and implementation.
U.S. diplomatic corps, federal and state governments: focusing public reporting and targeted measures on the PRC and similar actors risks escalating geopolitical tensions and complicating broader cooperation on other issues.
Small businesses, banks, maritime suppliers, and exporters: expanding U.S. jurisdictional reach (e.g., treating foreign branches as U.S. persons) combined with asset-blocking authorities and sanctions will raise compliance costs, restrict customers/markets, and increase operational burdens.
Small businesses, maritime operators, and taxpayers: sanctions and enforcement actions could disrupt maritime supply chains and trade or prompt retaliatory measures that raise costs for vessel operators, suppliers, and consumers.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Directs U.S. agencies to use diplomacy, technology, and targeted sanctions against foreign persons and vessels engaged in illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing, with reporting to Congress.
Directs U.S. foreign policy and federal agencies to prioritize international cooperation, technology deployment, and targeted sanctions to combat illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing worldwide, with particular focus on actors linked to the People’s Republic of China. It creates a sanctions authority (blocking property, visa restrictions, financial prohibitions) that the President may use against foreign persons and vessels involved in IUU fishing or trafficking in endangered species, requires annual unclassified reports (with a classified annex option) on global IUU fishing and PRC activity, and mandates interagency coordination and rulemaking to implement the program.