Washington, DC (June 27, 2022) – Today, President Biden issued a National Security Memorandum on Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Associated Labor Abuses. The memorandum advances a whole-of-government approach to address the interconnected challenges of IUU fishing, forced labor, and other human rights issues in seafood supply chains.
In response, Mallika Talwar, Senior Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace USA, said: “For years, Greenpeace has highlighted the link between forced labor and illegal fishing. Together, these issues undermine both the health of our oceans and the human rights of fishers around the world. Through this memorandum, President Biden is taking necessary steps toward bringing increased attention to the problems inherent in our seafood supply chains and ensuring coordinated action across agencies to tackle these complicated and interconnected issues.
As one of the largest importers of seafood in the world, the US has a responsibility to address these issues. While this memorandum represents real progress in the right direction, more action is needed to regulate the entry of seafood into US markets. The memorandum’s call for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to expand the Seafood Important Monitoring Program is a welcome step. However, it falls short of expanding the program to all seafood species, which is a necessary step for closing US seafood markets to all illegally caught seafood.
Additionally, we need to better regulate the supply chain policies and practices of seafood businesses that have long profited from destroying our oceans and violating workers’ human rights. Given the widespread nature of these abuses in the seafood industry, the current vessel-by-vessel approach of investigating fishing vessels for forced labor issues is insufficient. We need broader enforcement actions from the US government and significant action from US businesses to ensure the seafood Americans eat is free of environmental destruction and human rights abuse.”
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Contact: Tanya Brooks, Greenpeace USA Senior Communications Specialist, P: 703-342-9226, E: [email protected]
Greenpeace USA
Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.
