House Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Meeks, Kim Introduce Legislation to Crack Down on Illegal Fishing from the People's Republic of China

Washington, D.C. – Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Young Kim, Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, today introduced legislation that would enforce sanctions and visa restrictions on individuals and entities engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. IUU fishing is destroying global fisheries, as fleets of foreign vessels – largely from the People’s Republic of China – exploit the waters near and sometimes within sovereign nations’ economic zones, resulting in overfishing, ecological damage and significant economic distress.

“Fleets of illegal fishing vessels are devastating sensitive fish populations, harming food security and local economies around the world. Nearly half of these vessels, 44%, originate from China. If Beijing won't hold these exploitive vessels and individuals accountable, the U.S. must. That is why we’ve introduced legislation that would grant the president power to impose sanctions on any individual or entity engaging in IUU fishing,” said Meeks and Kim.

The legislation is set to be marked up by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on December 3. A PDF copy of the bill can be found here.