Following a hearing by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), United States Representative Chris Smith (R-N.J.) has called for action from the Biden Administration. The hearing's findings have implicated the United States in forced labor practices within China's fishing fleets.
Smith, who serves as chairman of the CECC, and co-chair U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), penned a letter to the Biden Administration after the October hearing. Addressed to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, this letter urged immediate action to halt American taxpayer funds' use in Chinese processing facilities identified as engaging in forced labor, according to a press release from Smith's office.
"The evidence presented by The Outlaw Ocean Project and detailed in the New Yorker and other global publications is compelling and well-documented," stated the lawmakers in their letter to the Department of Homeland Security. "Major wholesalers, restaurants, grocery chains, food service companies, and the U.S. government all import large amounts of seafood from processing plants in Shandong and Liaoning. From fish sticks served at school lunches to fish sandwiches and calamari sold at major restaurants and grocery chains, American consumers' plates are likely filled with products tainted with forced labor."
The Outlaw Ocean Project is a non-profit organization primarily focused on investigating "human rights, labor, and environmental issues in two-thirds of the planet covered by water." Founded by Ian Urbina, who also serves as Executive Editor, this organization addresses various concerns surrounding world oceans including illegal fishing, pollution, dumping, slavery on fishing vessels among others as per information available on The Outlaw Ocean Project website.
The revelations from this hearing have led to multiple petitions resulting in numerous requests filed by lawmakers and advocacy groups urging U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to issue withhold release orders (WROs). These petitions specifically aim to prevent squid sourced from Wei Yu 18 and Zhen Fa 7 from entering the U.S. supply chain, as both vessels have been identified in the Outlaw Ocean report for their ties to forced labor, according to an article from Seafood Source.
"China has created an unfair, unethical competitive advantage for itself in the fishing industry, as in so many other industries, because it utilizes forced labor, undercutting American fishermen," Smith said in a press release from his office. "My groundbreaking October hearing revealed just how extensive China’s abuses are and how it has corrupted the entire supply chain, from bait to plate. The complicity of governments—including our own—in the procurement of tainted seafood from the Chinese Communist Party needs to end."
