Stop Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Seafood Fraud

  • by: Oceana
  • recipient: President Obama's Task Force on Combatting Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud
Across the globe, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and seafood fraud is exploiting the health of our oceans, hurting law-abiding businesses and deceiving consumers.

A recent report by Oceana found that 30 percent of tested shrimp products in the United States were misrepresented. Different species have different environmental and health implications, and misrepresenting such information leaves consumers in the dark and potentially at risk.

President Obama established a special task force to explore possible solutions to the twin issues of IUU fishing and seafood fraud, and the task force is drafting their recommendations this month.

Please sign our petition calling on the task force to use the federal government's existing authorities to recommend traceability for all seafood sold in the U.S. to ensure that it is safe, legally caught, and honestly labeled.
Task Force on Combatting Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud:

Thank you for your leadership in the fight against illegal fishing and seafood fraud. I urge you to develop regulations that require seafood traceability and keep illegal and fraudulent seafood off our dinner plates.

Across the globe, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and seafood fraud is exploiting the health and economic viability of our marine resources. Studies suggest that seafood fraud, which can disguise illegally caught fish through species substitution or other falsification, occurs anywhere from 25 to 70 percent of the time for commonly-swapped species. Most recently, Oceana found that nearly one-third of shrimp tested — our most popular seafood — is misrepresented in the marketplace. Unfortunately, the seafood supply chain is so complex and non-transparent that, paired with limited border controls, mislabeled seafood and illegally caught products are entering the U.S. market. With insufficient enforcement against seafood fraud and no uniform standards for seafood traceability, the United States provides a lucrative market for IUU fishing and seafood fraud.

Fortunately, the task force has a real opportunity to address these problems and give consumers the tools they need to make informed buying decisions. The task force should use the federal government’s existing authorities to create a comprehensive solution that:

-- Prevents illegally caught fish from entering the U.S. market by requiring catch documentation, for all seafood imports, to prove the seafood was caught legally;

-- Requires that all seafood sold in the U.S. is fully traceable from the final point of sale back to the point of harvest, ensuring that basic information about where, when, how, and by whom the fish was caught or farmed and how it may have been processed;

-- Improves consumer awareness by revealing basic information about a seafood’s origins, such as type of fish, and where and how it was caught, to allow families to make informed buying decisions;

-- Strengthens verification and enforcement by implementing risk-based and random audits of the supply chain; and

-- Improves agency cooperation and planning to improve federal oversight of IUU fishing and seafood fraud.

A comprehensive approach will give consumers more information about their seafood, protect fishermen and seafood businesses that are competing with illegal and fraudulent products, and help stop IUU fishing that is harming our oceans.

[Your comments here]

Sincerely,
[Your name here]
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