Bordallo’s IUU Bill Reported Out of Committee

Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo today announced that H.R. 69, the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Act of 2013 has been favorably reported out of the Committee on Natural Resources by unanimous consent. The bill will be sent to the Full House of Representatives for consideration.

H.R. 69 reflects a bipartisan effort to comprehensively address a key fishing and regional security issue. Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a $20 billion industry that has caused significant harm to legitimate fishermen across the world. In the Pacific Islands alone, is it estimated that approximately $1.7 billion in annual revenue is lost due to IUU fishing. H.R. 69 provides increased enforcement authority to the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to combat IUU fishing, including strengthening NOAA’s ability to penalize nations that do not comply with the Regional Fisheries Management Organization’s recommendation, which U.S. fishermen already follow. The bill also implements the Agreement on Port State Measures to ensure that illegally-caught fish do not enter U.S. ports.  Finally, the bill adopted an amendment offered by Congresswoman Bordallo that addressed a variety of fishing industry concerns.

“While the U.S. has made significant progress towards rebuilding key fishing stocks, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing continues to undermine these efforts,” said Congresswoman Bordallo. “IUU fishing harms legitimate local fishermen by forcing them to compete with illegally caught fish, and IUU fishing depletes the fishing stocks on which our fishermen rely. Make no mistake about it, IUU fishing is a critical regional and national security threat in our region.  Allies and neighbors like Palau have made this clear and have taken steps to address this threat, and I am glad that the U.S. Congress is finally making progress on this front.  Nearly 90 percent of global marine fish stocks are fully exploited or depleted because of IUU fishing. This bill provides much needed enforcement authorities to combat IUU fishing and penalties to punish offenders. I look forward to working with my colleagues to secure passage by the full House, and I will continue to work to ensure that Guam’s local fishermen are able to compete on a fair playing field and have access to sustainable fishing stocks.”