Introduction

First, let me extend a special thank you to Global Fishing Watching for organizing this fantastic day of discussions.

I’m honored to be here among this distinguished group to welcome you all here today.

I’m really looking forward to the outcomes of today’s program because *persistent* political will and *coordinated* action are exactly what we need to tackle the challenge of IUU fishing.

I know that I don’t need to tell all of you that this is an urgent problem.

Left unchecked, IUU fishing damages our ecosystems, undermines maritime, economic, and food security, and endangers the law-abiding fishers and communities that rely on fish.

We know that IUU fishing can take many forms – from small-scale vessels misreporting catch or straying into a neighboring country’s waters without permission to fish, to large-scale, coordinated efforts by giant vessels that fish far from “home” for years at a time.

No matter the form it takes, we know that a key reason these activities can continue is a lack of transparency – in vessel registries, on the water, and in the markets.

We know the problems of IUU fishing are pervasive and complex. But we cannot be afraid of tackling these challenges head-on and raising our standards.

Transparency and data sharing are essential to understand the full complexity of IUU fishing, both on the high seas and in national waters.

A better understanding of the problem will allow us to pinpoint and target the vessel owners and operators who profit from breaking the rules.

Of course, to reach their full potential, technology and data tools require the backing of governments, fisheries management organizations, civil society, and the private sector.

Further, these tools need to be backstopped by strong monitoring and enforcement measures.

Most importantly, the information we generate together needs to quickly get into the hands of those that can effectively act on it.

What is standing in the way of that?

IUU Fishing Action Alliance

We know that part of the problem is a lack of political will to act. Countries must make addressing IUU fishing a priority and be willing to take the hard steps needed to ensure their fleets follow the rules.

That is why we were so excited to launch the IUU Fishing Action Alliance last June with Canada and the United Kingdom, designed to build political ambition in this urgent fight against IUU fishing.

The idea behind the Alliance is simple: countries make a clear pledge to take urgent action to improve the monitoring, control, and surveillance of fisheries, increase transparency in fishing fleets and in the seafood market, and build new partnerships that will close the net on bad actors.

Since its launch on the margins of last year’s UN Ocean Conference, the Alliance has grown to include six countries and a number of non-governmental supporters, including Global Fishing Watch and many of the other organizations participating today.

I understand we will be hearing announcements of additional country members over the coming days! Together, we can take this momentum forward to push for others to make the strong commitments – and take the concrete actions – we need to see.

At the same time, we know that many countries have a clear willingness and interest to take effective action against IUU fishing activities, but a lack of operational or institutional capacity is holding real progress back.

New U.S. Strategy

That’s why last year in October, the United States launched a new National Five-Year Strategy setting out our whole-of-government approach to working with our partners in priority regions, countries and administrations to tackle this lack of capacity.

This strategy focuses on three pillars:

First, promoting strong fisheries management and governance. We will work to support our partner countries to build robust and effective laws to encourage compliance and guard against IUU fishing. 

Second, enhancing the monitoring, control, and surveillance of fishing operations. We will improve coordination and information sharing across intelligence, enforcement, and regulatory agencies, as well as foreign partners and non-governmental organizations, to increase enforcement effectiveness. 

And finally, using market and traceability tools to ensure that only legal, sustainable, and responsibly harvested seafood enters trade. 

Transparency and information sharing is an essential component of each of these pillars. This is an enormous task, but the United States is committed to creating new partnerships, leveraging new technologies, and finding new ways to share our knowledge and experiences.

In recent years, the United States has expanded its vision even further – recognizing the ways that IUU fishing intersects with our core national security and economic challenges.

We now understand even more clearly that addressing IUU fishing is not just about fish: it’s about human rights, it’s about climate change, it’s about how we ensure the sustainability of limited marine resources.

The National Security Memorandum President Biden issued last year underscores our clear commitment to using all of the tools of the U.S. government to tackle these broader interconnected issues, including IUU fishing committed by distant water fishing fleets and associated criminal activities such as the use of forced labor in the seafood supply chain.

This is just the beginning of the next chapter of our work to take these challenges head on.

The Challenge Demands New Ideas 

There is no panacea to effectively tackle IUU fishing. But we can and should be more ambitious in our approach to combating IUU fishing around the world.

I’m excited for today’s program.

These discussions – and the conversations that will follow – are a critical opportunity for us to break down the silos among those of us working on maritime security, information-sharing, and ocean sustainability.

We all have fundamental roles to play.

I look forward to your great ideas about how we can work together to mandate transparency in the fishing industry as a global standard, and create mechanisms to share key information about the perpetrators.

There is no time to waste!

Thank you very much.

Original source can be found here.